I 

113TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5879 

To provide protection for children affected by the immigration laws of the 

United States, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

DECEMBER 11, 2014 

Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To provide protection for children affected by the immigration laws of the United States, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Humane Enforcement 

5 and Legal Protections for Separated Children Act’’ or the 

6 ‘‘HELP Separated Children Act’’. 

7 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

8 In this Act: 

9 (1) APPREHENSION.—The term ‘‘apprehension’’ 

10 means the detention or arrest by officials of the DeVerDate Sep 11 2014 20:21 Dec 30, 2014 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5879.IH H5879

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1 partment of Homeland Security or cooperating enti2 ties. 

3 (2) CHILD.—The term ‘‘child’’ means an indi4 vidual who has not attained 18 years of age. 

5 (3) CHILD WELFARE AGENCY.—The term 

6 ‘‘child welfare agency’’ means a State or local agen7 cy responsible for child welfare services under sub8 titles B and E of title IV of the Social Security Act 

9 (42 U.S.C. 601 et seq.). 

10 (4) COOPERATING ENTITY.—The term ‘‘cooper11 ating entity’’ means a State or local entity acting 

12 under agreement with the Secretary. 

13 (5) DEPARTMENT.—The term ‘‘Department’’ 

14 means the Department of Homeland Security. 

15 (6) DETENTION FACILITY.—The term ‘‘deten16 tion facility’’ means a Federal, State, or local gov17 ernment facility, or a privately owned and operated 

18 facility, that is used, in whole or in part, to hold in19 dividuals under the authority of the Director of U.S. 

20 Immigration and Customs Enforcement, including 

21 facilities that hold such individuals under a contract 

22 or agreement with the Director. 

23 (7) IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENT ACTION.—The 

24 term ‘‘immigration enforcement action’’ means the 

25 apprehension of one or more individuals whom the 


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1 Department has reason to believe are removable 

2 from the United States by the Secretary or a cooper3 ating entity. 

4 (8) NGO.—The term ‘‘NGO’’ means a non5 governmental organization that provides social serv6 ices or humanitarian assistance to the immigrant 

7 community. 

8 (9) PARENT.—The term ‘‘parent’’ means a bio9 logical or adoptive parent of a child, whose parental 

10 rights have not been relinquished or terminated 

11 under State law or the law of a foreign country, or 

12 a legal guardian under State law or the law of a for13 eign country. 

14 (10) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ 

15 means the Secretary of Homeland Security. 

16 SEC. 3. APPREHENSION PROCEDURES FOR IMMIGRATION 

17 ENFORCEMENT-RELATED ACTIVITIES. 

18 (a) APPREHENSION PROCEDURES.—In any immigra19 tion enforcement action, the Secretary and cooperating en20 tities shall— 

21 (1) as soon as possible, but generally not later 

22 than 2 hours after an immigration enforcement ac23 tion, inquire whether an individual is a parent or 

24 primary caregiver of a child in the United States 

25 and notify any such individual, in a language that 


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1 he or she understands, that he or she is entitled 

2 to— 

3 (A) the opportunity to make a minimum of 

4 2 telephone calls to arrange for the care of such 

5 child in the individual’s absence; and 

6 (B) contact information for— 

7 (i) child welfare agencies and family 

8 courts in the same jurisdiction as the child; 

9 and 

10 (ii) consulates, attorneys, and legal 

11 service providers capable of providing free 

12 legal advice or representation regarding 

13 child welfare, child custody determinations, 

14 and immigration matters; 

15 (2) notify the child welfare agency with jurisdic16 tion over the child if the child’s parent or primary 

17 caregiver is unable to make care arrangements for 

18 the child or if the child is in imminent risk of seri19 ous harm; 

20 (3) ensure that personnel of the Department 

21 and cooperating entities do not, absent medical ne22 cessity or extraordinary circumstances, interview in23 dividuals in the immediate presence of children over 

24 the age of 2 unless the parent or primary caregiver 

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1 terpret or translate for interviews of their parents or 

2 of other individuals who are encountered as part of 

3 an immigration enforcement action; 

4 (4) ensure that any parent or primary caregiver 

5 of a child in the United States— 

6 (A) absent medical necessity or extraor7 dinary circumstances, is not transferred from 

8 his or her area of apprehension until the indi9 vidual— 

10 (i) has made arrangements for the 

11 care of such child; or 

12 (ii) if such arrangements are unavail13 able or the individual is unable to make 

14 such arrangements, is informed of the care 

15 arrangements made for the child and of a 

16 means to maintain communication with the 

17 child; 

18 (B) absent medical necessity or extraor19 dinary circumstances is placed in a detention 

20 facility either— 

21 (i) proximate to the location of appre22 hension; or 

23 (ii) proximate to the individual’s ha24 bitual place of residence; and 


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1 (iii) absent medical necessity or ex2 traordinary circumstances, is not trans3 ferred from such facility unless necessary 

4 to facilitate participation in child welfare 

5 proceedings; and 

6 (C) receives due consideration of the best 

7 interests of such child in any decision or action 

8 relating to his or her detention, release, or 

9 transfer between detention facilities; and 

10 (5) issue guidance prohibiting personnel of the 

11 Department and cooperating entities from appre12 hending persons on the premises or in the immediate 

13 vicinity of day care centers, head start centers, 

14 schools, school bus stops, recreation centers, legal 

15 service providers, courts, funeral homes, cemeteries, 

16 colleges, victim services agencies, social service agen17 cies, hospitals, health care clinics, community cen18 ters, and places of worship, absent exceptional cir19 cumstances. 

20 (b) REQUESTS TO LOCAL AND STATE ENTITIES.— 

21 If the Secretary requests a State or local entity to hold 

22 in custody an individual who the Department has reason 

23 to believe is removable pending transfer of that individual 

24 to the custody of the Secretary or to a detention facility, 

25 the Secretary shall also request that the State or local enVerDate Sep 11 2014 20:21 Dec 30, 2014 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5879.IH H5879

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1 tity provide the individual the protections specified in 

2 paragraphs (1) and (2) of subsection (a), if that individual 

3 is found to be the parent or primary caregiver of a child 

4 in the United States. 

5 (c) PROTECTIONS AGAINST TRAFFICKING PRE6 SERVED.—The provisions of this section shall not be con7 strued to impede, delay, or in any way limit the obligations 

8 of the Secretary, the Attorney General, or the Secretary 

9 of Health and Human Services under section 235 of the 

10 William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reau11 thorization Act of 2008 (8 U.S.C. 1232) or section 462 

12 of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 279). 

13 SEC. 4. ACCESS TO CHILDREN, STATE AND LOCAL COURTS, 

14 CHILD WELFARE AGENCIES, AND CONSULAR 

15 OFFICIALS. 

16 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall ensure that 

17 all detention facilities operated by or under agreement 

18 with the Department implement procedures to ensure that 

19 the best interest of the child, including a preference for 

20 family unity wherever appropriate, can be considered in 

21 any decision and action relating to the custody of children 

22 whose parent, legal guardian, or primary caregiver is de23 tained as the result of an immigration enforcement action. 

24 (b) DETENTION PROCEDURES.—At all detention fa25 cilities, the Secretary shall— 


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1 (1) prominently post in a manner accessible to 

2 detainees and visitors and include in detainee hand3 books information on the protections of this Act as 

4 well as information on potential eligibility for parole 

5 or release; 

6 (2) absent extraordinary circumstances, ensure 

7 that individuals who are detained by the Department 

8 and are parents of children in the United States 

9 are— 

10 (A) permitted regular phone calls and con11 tact visits with their children; 

12 (B) provided with contact information for 

13 child welfare agencies and family courts in the 

14 relevant jurisdictions; 

15 (C) able to participate fully, and to the ex16 tent possible in-person, in all family court pro17 ceedings and any other proceedings that may 

18 impact their right to custody of their children; 

19 (D) granted free and confidential telephone 

20 calls to relevant child welfare agencies and fam21 ily courts as often as is necessary to ensure 

22 that the best interest of their children, includ23 ing a preference for family unity whenever ap24 propriate, can be considered in child welfare 

25 agency or family court proceedings; 


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1 (E) able to fully comply with all family 

2 court or child welfare agency orders impacting 

3 custody of their children; 

4 (F) provided access to United States pass5 port applications or other relevant travel docu6 ment applications for the purpose of obtaining 

7 travel documents for their children; 

8 (G) afforded timely access to a notary pub9 lic for the purpose of applying for a passport 

10 for their children or executing guardianship or 

11 other agreements to ensure the safety of their 

12 children; and 

13 (H) granted adequate time before removal 

14 to obtain passports, apostilled birth certificates, 

15 travel documents, and other necessary records, 

16 including health and school records, on behalf 

17 of their children if such children will accompany 

18 them on their return to their country of origin 

19 or join them in their country of origin; and 

20 (3) where doing so would not impact public 

21 safety or national security, facilitate the ability of 

22 detained alien parents and primary caregivers to re23 unify with their children by sharing information re24 garding travel arrangements with their consulate, 

25 children, child welfare agencies, or other caregivers 


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1 in advance of the detained alien individual’s depar2 ture from the United States. 

3 SEC. 5. MEMORANDA OF UNDERSTANDING. 

4 The Secretary, in consultation with the Department 

5 of Health and Human Services, shall develop and imple6 ment memoranda of understanding or protocols with child 

7 welfare agencies and NGOs regarding the best ways to co8 operate and facilitate ongoing communication between all 

9 relevant entities in cases involving a child whose parent, 

10 legal guardian, or primary caregiver has been apprehended 

11 or detained in an immigration enforcement action to pro12 tect the best interests of the child, including a preference 

13 for family unity whenever appropriate. 

14 SEC. 6. MANDATORY TRAINING. 

15 The Secretary, in consultation with the Secretary of 

16 Health and Human Services, the Secretary of State, the 

17 Attorney General, and independent child welfare and fam18 ily law experts, shall develop and provide training on the 

19 protections required under sections 3 and 4 to all per20 sonnel of the Department, cooperating entities, and deten21 tion facilities operated by or under agreement with the De22 partment who regularly engage in immigration enforce23 ment actions and in the course of such actions come into 

24 contact with individuals who are parents or primary care25 givers of children in the United States. 


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1 SEC. 7. RULEMAKING. 

2 Not later than 180 days after the date of the enact3 ment of this Act, the Secretary shall promulgate regula4 tions to implement sections 3 and 4 of this Act. 

5 SEC. 8. SEVERABILITY. 

6 If any provision of this Act or amendment made by 

7 this Act, or the application of a provision or amendment 

8 to any person or circumstance, is held to be unconstitu9 tional, the remainder of this Act and amendments made 

10 by this Act, and the application of the provisions and 

11 amendment to any person or circumstance, shall not be 

12 affected by the holding. 

13 SEC. 9. REPORT ON PROTECTIONS FOR CHILDREN IM14 PACTED BY IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENT 

15 ACTIVITIES. 

16 (a) REQUIREMENT FOR REPORT.—Not later than 1 

17 year after the date of the enactment of this Act, and annu18 ally thereafter, the Secretary shall submit to Congress a 

19 report that describes the impact of immigration enforce20 ment activities on children, including children who are citi21 zens of the United States. 

22 (b) CONTENT.—The report submitted under sub23 section (a) shall include for the previous 1-year period an 

24 assessment of— 


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1 (1) the number of individuals removed from the 

2 United States who are the parent of a child who is 

3 a citizen of the United States; 

4 (2) the number of occasions in which both par5 ents or the primary caretaker of such a child was re6 moved from the United States; and 

7 (3) the number of children who are citizens of 

8 the United States who leave the United States with 

9 parents who are removed. 

Æ 


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