I 
116TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 7569 
To temporarily suspend certain immigration enforcement activities during 
disease-related emergencies. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JULY 9, 2020 
Ms. WILSON of Florida (for herself and Ms. ESCOBAR) introduced the fol-
lowing bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and 
in addition to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, for a period to be subse-
quently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such 
provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 
A BILL 
To temporarily suspend certain immigration enforcement 
activities during disease-related emergencies. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Immigration Enforce-
ment Moratorium Act’’. 
SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 
It is the sense of Congress that— 
(1) during the COVID–19 pandemic, many im-
migration enforcement activities have needlessly en-
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dangered public health, including the health of en-
forcement officers and members of the community; 
(2) continued arrests and apprehensions— 
(A) prevent immigrant communities from 
accessing necessary services for their health and 
well being; and 
(B) risk increasing the immigration deten-
tion population at a time when the number of 
people in immigration detention must urgently 
be reduced; 
(3) Department of Homeland Security medical 
experts estimate that between 75 and 100 percent of 
the people detained in many immigration detention 
centers across the country may contract COVID–19 
unless such centers are drastically depopulated; 
(4) other in-person activities, including check- 
ins and removal hearings, create significant public 
health risks; 
(5) the National Association of Immigration 
Judges, a union of U.S. Immigration and Customs 
Enforcement trial attorneys, and the American Im-
migration Lawyers Association have all urged the 
Department of Justice to cease all in-person removal 
proceedings, citing expert guidance that continuing 
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in-person removal proceedings during the pandemic 
is ‘‘irresponsible’’; 
(6) deportations risk spreading COVID–19 to 
neighboring countries, where the virus will devastate 
already limited health systems and create untold 
harm; 
(7) the United States has already sent individ-
uals who tested positive for COVID–19 to at least 
8 countries; 
(8) a consortium of United Nations migration 
and human rights organizations has called on all 
countries in the global community to halt all forced 
removals during the pandemic, noting that ‘‘[f]orced 
returns can intensify serious public health risks for 
everyone—migrants, public health officials, health 
workers, social workers, and both host and origin 
communities’’; 
(9) expulsions at the border— 
(A) violate longstanding, congressionally 
mandated protections for asylum seekers; and 
(B) fail to protect public health; 
(10) the Office of the United Nations High 
Commissioner for Refugees has declared that— 
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(A) 
countries 
cannot 
enact 
‘‘blanket 
measure[s] to preclude the admission of refu-
gees or asylum-seekers’’; and 
(B) any such ‘‘measures must be non-dis-
criminatory as well as necessary, proportionate 
and reasonable to the aim of protecting public 
health’’; 
(11) leading public health experts have urged 
United States officials to withdraw the order ena-
bling mass expulsion of asylum seekers, noting bor-
der expulsions fail to further public health and im-
plicate serious human rights concerns; 
(12) border crossing prosecutions have been 
suspended in several border districts because they 
are incompatible with public health; 
(13) the Department of Homeland Security 
continues to refer people for prosecutions in some 
districts for violations of section 276 of the Immi-
gration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1326); and 
(14) people continue to be unnecessarily held in 
pre-trial detention facilities where COVID–19 has 
spread. 
SEC. 3. TEMPORARY SUSPENSION OF IMMIGRATION EN-
FORCEMENT. 
(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
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(1) 
NONCITIZEN.—The 
term 
‘‘noncitizen’’ 
means any individual who is not a citizen or national 
of the United States. 
(2) PUBLIC HEALTH EMERGENCY.—The term 
‘‘public health emergency’’ means— 
(A) a national emergency involving Federal 
primary responsibility determined to exist by 
the President under section 501(b) of the Rob-
ert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency 
Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5191(b)) with re-
spect to a communicable disease; 
(B) a national emergency declared by the 
President under sections 201 and 301 of the 
National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1621 and 
1631) with respect to a communicable disease; 
(C) a national public health emergency de-
clared by the Secretary of Health and Human 
Services under section 319 of the Public Health 
Service Act (42 U.S.C. 247d); or 
(D) a global pandemic declared by the 
World Health Organization. 
(b) SUSPENDED IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENT AC-
TIVITIES.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in sub-
section (d), during a public health emergency, the 
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Secretary of Homeland Security shall suspend all 
immigration enforcement-related activities in the 
United States, including— 
(A) removals of noncitizens from the 
United States; 
(B) arrests and apprehensions by U.S. Im-
migration and Customs Enforcement or U.S. 
Customs and Border Protection of noncitizens 
who are physically present in the United States; 
(C) required meetings with Enforcement 
and Removal Operations (commonly known as 
‘‘ICE check-ins’’); 
(D) service of Notices to Appear; and 
(E) referrals for prosecution under section 
275 or 276 of the Immigration and Nationality 
Act (8 U.S.C. 1325 and 1326). 
(2) INDIVIDUALS IN DETENTION WHO HAVE RE-
CEIVED
REMOVAL
ORDERS.—Notwithstanding sec-
tion 241(a)(2) of the Immigration and Nationality 
Act (8 U.S.C. 1231(a)(2)), individuals in detention 
who have received removal orders shall be released 
on orders of supervision. 
(c) BORDER PROCESSING.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding section 217 
of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 
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