I 
117TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 536 
To reform the process for enforcing the immigration laws of the United 
States, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JANUARY 28, 2021 
Mr. GARCI´A of Illinois (for himself, Ms. JAYAPAL, Ms. PRESSLEY, Ms. BASS, 
Mr. ESPAILLAT, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN, Mr. RUSH, 
Ms. NORTON, Ms. MCCOLLUM, Ms. OCASIO-CORTEZ, Mr. LOWENTHAL, 
Ms. GARCIA of Texas, Ms. CLARKE of New York, Mr. DANNY K. DAVIS 
of Illinois, Mr. MCGOVERN, Ms. OMAR, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Mr. 
CA´RDENAS, Mr. POCAN, Ms. TLAIB, Mr. VARGAS, Ms. LEE of California, 
Ms. ESCOBAR, Mr. TAKANO, Mr. JONES, Mr. BOWMAN, Ms. BUSH, Ms. 
WILLIAMS of Georgia, Ms. VELA´ZQUEZ, Mr. MEEKS, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, 
Mr. DESAULNIER, Ms. CHU, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. TORRES of New York, 
Ms. BARRAGA´N, Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia, Ms. NEWMAN, and Ms. MENG) 
introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the 
Judiciary 
A BILL 
To reform the process for enforcing the immigration laws 
of the United States, and for other purposes. 
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 ‘‘New Way Forward 
Act’’. 
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TITLE I—END MANDATORY DE-
TENTION 
AND 
REQUIRE 
PROBABLE CAUSE FOR AR-
REST 
SEC. 101. PHASE-OUT OF PRIVATE FOR-PROFIT DETENTION 
FACILITIES AND USE OF JAILS. 
(a) SECURE DETENTION FACILITIES.—Beginning on 
the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of 
Homeland Security may not enter into, or extend, any con-
tract with any public or private for-profit entity that owns 
or operates a detention facility for use of that facility to 
detain aliens in the custody of the Department of Home-
land Security, and shall terminate any such contract not 
later than the date that is 3 years after the date of the 
enactment of this Act. Beginning on the date that is 3 
years after the date of the enactment of this Act, any facil-
ity at which aliens in the custody of the Department of 
Homeland Security are detained shall be owned and oper-
ated by the Department of Homeland Security. 
(b) NON-SECURE DETENTION PROGRAMS.—Begin-
ning on the date of the enactment of this Act, the Sec-
retary of Homeland Security may not enter into, or ex-
tend, any contract with any public or private for-profit en-
tity that owns or operates a program or facility that pro-
vides for non-residential detention-related activities for 
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aliens who are subject to monitoring by the Department 
of Homeland Security, and shall terminate any such con-
tact not later than the date that is 3 years after the date 
of the enactment of this Act. Beginning on the date that 
is 3 years after the date of the enactment of this Act, 
any such program or facility shall be owned and operated 
by a nonprofit organization or by the Department of 
Homeland Security. 
(c) PUBLICATION OF PLAN.—Not later than 60 days 
after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary 
shall develop, and make publicly available, a plan and 
timeline for the implementation of this section. 
SEC. 102. PROCEDURES FOR DETAINING ALIENS. 
(a) CUSTODY AND BOND DETERMINATIONS.—Sec-
tion 236 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 
1226) is amended— 
(1) by striking subsections (a) through (c) and 
inserting the following: 
‘‘(a) ARREST, DETENTION, AND RELEASE.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—On a warrant issued by an 
immigration judge, or pursuant to section 287(a)(2), 
the Secretary of Homeland Security may arrest an 
alien and, in accordance with this section, may, 
pending a decision on whether the alien is to be re-
moved from the United States— 
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‘‘(A) detain the alien; or 
‘‘(B) release the alien— 
‘‘(i) on bond; 
‘‘(ii) subject to conditions; or 
‘‘(iii) on the alien’s own recognizance. 
‘‘(2) EXCEPTION.—This section shall not apply 
to an unaccompanied alien child (as defined in sec-
tion 462(g)(2) of the Homeland Security Act of 
2002 (6 U.S.C. 279(g)(2))). Such an alien shall be 
transferred to the custody of the Secretary of Health 
and Human Services pursuant to section 235(b)(3) 
of the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Pro-
tection Reauthorization Act of 2008 (8 U.S.C. 
1232(b)(3)). 
‘‘(b) CUSTODY AND BOND DETERMINATIONS.— 
‘‘(1) INITIAL DETERMINATION.—Not later than 
48 hours after taking an alien into custody, the Sec-
retary of Homeland Security shall make an initial 
custody determination with regard to that alien, and 
provide that determination in writing to the alien. If 
the Secretary determines that the release without 
conditions of an alien will not reasonably assure the 
appearance of the alien as required or will endanger 
the safety of any other person or the community, the 
custody determination under this paragraph will im-
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pose the least restrictive conditions, as described in 
paragraph (4). 
‘‘(2) TIMING.—If an alien seeks to challenge 
the initial custody determination under paragraph 
(1), the alien shall be provided with the opportunity 
for a hearing before an immigration judge to deter-
mine whether the alien should be detained, which 
hearing shall occur not later than 72 hours after the 
initial custody determination, except that an immi-
gration judge may grant a reasonable continuance 
upon the alien’s request for additional time to pre-
pare for the hearing. 
‘‘(3) PRESUMPTION OF RELEASE.—In a hearing 
under this subsection, there shall be a rebuttable 
presumption that the alien should be released. The 
Government shall have the duty of rebutting this 
presumption by clear and convincing evidence based 
on credible and individualized information that es-
tablishes that the use of alternatives to detention 
will not reasonably assure the appearance of the 
alien at removal proceedings, or that the alien is a 
threat to another person or the community. The fact 
that an alien has a prior conviction or a criminal 
charge pending against the alien may not be the sole 
factor to justify the continued detention of the alien. 
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‘‘(4) LEAST
RESTRICTIVE
CONDITIONS
RE-
QUIRED.—If an immigration judge determines pur-
suant to a hearing under this section that the re-
lease without conditions of an alien will not reason-
ably assure the appearance of the alien as required 
or will endanger the safety of any other person or 
the community, the immigration judge shall order 
the least restrictive conditions, or combination of 
conditions, that the judge determines will reasonably 
assure the appearance of the alien as required and 
the safety of any other person and the community, 
which may include secured or unsecured release on 
bond, or participation in a program described in 
subsection (i). Any conditions assigned to an alien 
pursuant to this paragraph shall be reviewed by the 
immigration judge on a monthly basis. 
‘‘(5) BOND DETERMINATION.—In the case that 
an immigration judge makes a determination to re-
lease an alien on bond under subsection (a)(1)(B)(i), 
the immigration judge shall consider, for purposes of 
setting the amount of the bond, the alien’s financial 
resources and ability to pay the bond without impos-
ing financial hardship on the alien. 
‘‘(6) SPECIAL
RULE
FOR
VULNERABLE
PER-
SONS
AND
PRIMARY
CAREGIVERS.—In a case in 
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which an alien who is the subject of a custody deter-
mination under this subsection is a vulnerable per-
son or a primary caregiver, the alien may not be de-
tained unless the Government shows, in addition to 
the requirements under paragraph (3), that it is un-
reasonable or not practicable to place the individual 
in a community-based supervision program. 
‘‘(7) DEFINITION.—In this subsection, the term 
‘vulnerable person’ means an individual who— 
‘‘(A) is under 21 years of age or over 60 
years of age; 
‘‘(B) is pregnant; 
‘‘(C) identifies as lesbian, gay, bisexual, 
transgender, or intersex; 
‘‘(D) is victim or witness of a crime; 
‘‘(E) has filed a nonfrivolous civil rights 
claim in Federal or State court; 
‘‘(F) has a serious mental or physical ill-
ness or disability; 
‘‘(G) has been determined by an asylum of-
ficer in an interview conducted under section 
235(b)(1)(B) to have a credible fear of persecu-
tion or a reasonable fear of persecution under 
section 208.31 or 241.8(e) of title 8, Code of 
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