II 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 2256 

To protect children affected by immigration enforcement actions. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 24, 2019 

Ms. SMITH (for herself, Ms. CORTEZ MASTO, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, Mr. KAINE, 

Mr. CASEY, Ms. KLOBUCHAR, Mr. MARKEY, Ms. HARRIS, Ms. 

DUCKWORTH, Mr. WYDEN, Mr. REED, Ms. HIRONO, Mr. VAN HOLLEN, 

Mr. UDALL, Ms. BALDWIN, Mrs. MURRAY, Mr. MERKLEY, Mr. MENENDEZ, and Mr. BOOKER) introduced the following bill; which was read 

twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To protect children affected by immigration enforcement 

actions. 

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 ‘‘Coordinating Care for 

5 Children Affected by Immigration Enforcement Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

7 In this Act: 


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

2 means the detention or arrest by officials of the De3 partment or cooperating entities. 

4 (2) CHILD.—The term ‘‘child’’ means an indi5 vidual who is younger than 18 years of age. 

6 (3) CHILD WELFARE AGENCY.—The term 

7 ‘‘child welfare agency’’ means a State or local agen8 cy responsible for child welfare services under sub9 titles B and E of title IV of the Social Security Act 

10 (42 U.S.C. 601 et seq.). 

11 (4) COOPERATING ENTITY.—The term ‘‘cooper12 ating entity’’ means a State or local entity acting 

13 under agreement with the Secretary. 

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

15 means the Department of Homeland Security. 

16 (6) DETENTION FACILITY.—The term ‘‘deten17 tion facility’’ means a Federal, State, or local gov18 ernment facility, or a privately owned and operated 

19 facility, that is used, in whole or in part, to hold in20 dividuals under the authority of the Director of U.S. 

21 Immigration and Customs Enforcement, including 

22 facilities that hold such individuals under a contract 

23 or agreement with the Director. 

24 (7) IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENT ACTION.—The 

25 term ‘‘immigration enforcement action’’ means the 


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1 apprehension of 1 or more individuals whom the De2 partment has reason to believe are removable from 

3 the United States by the Secretary or a cooperating 

4 entity. 

5 (8) PARENT.—The term ‘‘parent’’ means— 

6 (A) a biological or adoptive parent of a 

7 child, whose parental rights have not been relin8 quished or terminated under State law or the 

9 law of a foreign country; or 

10 (B) a legal guardian under State law or 

11 the law of a foreign country. 

12 (9) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

13 the Secretary of Homeland Security. 

14 SEC. 3. APPREHENSION PROCEDURES FOR IMMIGRATION 

15 ENFORCEMENT-RELATED ACTIVITIES. 

16 (a) APPREHENSION PROCEDURES.—In any immigra17 tion enforcement action, the Secretary and cooperating en18 tities shall— 

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

20 than 2 hours after an immigration enforcement ac21 tion, inquire whether an individual is a parent or 

22 primary caregiver of a child in the United States 

23 and provide any such individuals with— 


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1 (A) the opportunity to make a minimum of 

2 2 telephone calls to arrange for the care of such 

3 child in the individual’s absence; and 

4 (B) contact information for— 

5 (i) child welfare agencies and family 

6 courts in the same jurisdiction as the child; 

7 and 

8 (ii) consulates, attorneys, and legal 

9 service providers capable of providing free 

10 legal advice or representation regarding 

11 child welfare, child custody determinations, 

12 and immigration matters; 

13 (2) notify the child welfare agency with jurisdic14 tion over the child if— 

15 (A) the child’s parent or primary caregiver 

16 is unable to make care arrangements for the 

17 child; or 

18 (B) the child is in imminent risk of serious 

19 harm; 

20 (3) ensure that personnel of the Department 

21 and cooperating entities do not, absent medical ne22 cessity or extraordinary circumstances— 

23 (A) interview individuals in the immediate 

24 presence of children; or 


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1 (B) compel or request children to interpret 

2 or translate for interviews of their parents or of 

3 other individuals who are encountered as part 

4 of an immigration enforcement action; 

5 (4) absent extraordinary circumstances, ensure 

6 that individuals who are the subject of an immigra7 tion enforcement action and are parents of children 

8 in the United States who are present during the ac9 tion are given an opportunity— 

10 (A) to communicate with their child, in11 cluding through physical contact; 

12 (B) to reassure their child; and 

13 (C) to share information regarding care ar14 rangements for their child while the parent is 

15 detained; and 

16 (5) ensure that any parent or primary caregiver 

17 of a child in the United States— 

18 (A) absent medical necessity or extraor19 dinary circumstances, is not transferred from 

20 his or her area of apprehension until the indi21 vidual— 

22 (i) has made arrangements for the 

23 care of such child; or 

24 (ii) if such arrangements are unavail25 able or the individual is unable to make 


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1 such arrangements, is informed of the care 

2 arrangements made for the child and of a 

3 means to maintain communication with the 

4 child; 

5 (B) absent medical necessity or extraor6 dinary circumstances, and to the extent prac7 ticable, is placed in a detention facility that is— 

8 (i) proximate to the location of appre9 hension; and 

10 (ii) proximate to the child’s habitual 

11 place of residence; and 

12 (C) receives due consideration of the best 

13 interests of such child in any decision or action 

14 relating to his or her detention, release, or 

15 transfer between detention facilities. 

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

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

18 in custody an individual whom the Department has reason 

19 to believe is removable pending transfer of such individual 

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

21 the Secretary shall request that the State or local entity 

22 provide the individual the protections specified in para23 graphs (1) and (2) of subsection (a) if such individual is 

24 the parent or primary caregiver of a child in the United 

25 States. 


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1 (c) PROTECTIONS AGAINST TRAFFICKING PRE2 SERVED.—Nothing in this section may be construed to im3 pede, delay, or limit the obligations of the Secretary, the 

4 Attorney General, or the Secretary of Health and Human 

5 Services under— 

6 (1) section 235 of the William Wilberforce 

7 Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act 

8 of 2008 (8 U.S.C. 1232); 

9 (2) section 462 of the Homeland Security Act 

10 of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 279); or 

11 (3) the Stipulated Settlement Agreement filed 

12 in the United States District Court for the Central 

13 District of California on January 17, 1997 (CV 85– 

14 4544–RJK) (commonly known as the ‘‘Flores Settle15 ment Agreement’’). 

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

17 CHILD WELFARE AGENCIES, AND CONSULAR 

18 OFFICIALS. 

19 At all detention facilities, the Secretary shall— 

20 (1) prominently post, in a manner accessible to 

21 detainees and visitors, and include in detainee hand22 books— 

23 (A) information regarding the protections 

24 required under this Act; and 


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1 (B) information regarding potential eligi2 bility for parole or release; 

3 (2) absent extraordinary circumstances, ensure 

4 that individuals who are detained by the Department 

5 and are parents or legal guardians of children in the 

6 United States are— 

7 (A) permitted regular phone calls and con8 tact visits with their children; 

9 (B) provided with contact information for 

10 child welfare agencies and family courts in the 

11 relevant jurisdictions; 

12 (C) given the opportunity to participate 

13 fully and, to the extent possible, in person— 

14 (i) in all family court proceedings; and 

15 (ii) in any other proceedings that may 

16 impact their right to custody of their chil17 dren; 

18 (D) granted free and confidential telephone 

19 calls to relevant child welfare agencies and fam20 ily courts as often as is necessary to ensure 

21 that the best interest of their children, includ22 ing a preference for family unity whenever ap23 propriate, can be considered in child welfare 

24 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 and oppor14 tunity before removal to obtain passports, 

15 apostilled birth certificates, travel documents, 

16 and other necessary records on behalf of their 

17 children if such children will accompany them 

18 on their return to their country of origin or join 

19 them in their country of origin; and 

20 (3) if doing so would not impact public safety 

21 or national security, facilitate the ability of detained 

22 alien parents and primary caregivers to share infor23 mation regarding travel arrangements with their 

24 consulate, children, child welfare agencies, or other 


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1 caregivers in advance of the detained alien individ2 ual’s departure from the United States. 

3 SEC. 5. MANDATORY TRAINING. 

4 The Secretary, in consultation with the Secretary of 

5 Health and Human Services and independent child welfare 

6 and family law experts, shall develop and provide training 

7 on the protections required under sections 3 and 4 to all 

8 personnel of the Department, cooperating entities, and de9 tention facilities operated by or under agreement with the 

10 Department who— 

11 (1) regularly engage in immigration enforce12 ment actions, including detention; and 

13 (2) in the course of such actions, come into con14 tact with individuals who are parents or primary 

15 caregivers of children in the United States. 

16 SEC. 6. RULEMAKING. 

17 Not later than 180 days after the date of the enact18 ment of this Act, the Secretary shall promulgate regula19 tions to implement sections 3 and 4. 

20 SEC. 7. SEVERABILITY. 

21 If any provision of this Act, any amendment made 

22 by this Act, or the application of any such provision or 

23 amendment to any person or circumstance is held to be 

24 unconstitutional, the remaining provisions of this Act, the 

25 remaining amendments made by this Act, and the applicaVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:19 Jul 27, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2256.IS S2256

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1 tion of such provisions and amendments to any person or 

2 circumstance shall not be affected by such holding. 

Æ 


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