I 
116TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 3906 
To prohibit the expansion of immigration detention facilities, to improve 
the oversight of such facilities, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JULY 23, 2019 
Ms. JAYAPAL introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on the Judiciary 
A BILL 
To prohibit the expansion of immigration detention facilities, 
to improve the oversight of such facilities, 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 TITLES. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Detention Oversight, 
Not Expansion Act’’ or the ‘‘DONE Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress makes the following findings: 
(1) Despite a significant decrease in border ap-
prehensions, the Federal immigrant detention sys-
tem expanded dramatically between 1994 and 2019, 
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with the average daily population of detained non-
citizens increasing from fewer than 7,000 during fis-
cal year 1994 to approximately 48,000 during fiscal 
year 2019. This population consists of increasing 
numbers of children and women, including pregnant 
women and asylum seekers. 
(2) U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforce-
ment (referred to in this section as ‘‘ICE’’) inspec-
tions of detention facilities are performed by field of-
fices, facility staff, or divisions within ICE head-
quarters and are not conducted by qualified inde-
pendent third parties. Since the inspectors are not 
independent, they often misrepresent conditions in-
side the facilities and rarely impose consequences for 
violations. For example, an outside review of 8 facili-
ties concluded that although ICE identified viola-
tions of medical standards as contributing factors to 
deaths in detention, routine ICE detention facility 
inspections before and even after the deaths failed to 
acknowledge (and even dismissed) those violations. 
(3) Multiple Federal oversight bodies, including 
the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of 
Inspector General, ICE’s Advisory Committee on 
Family Residential Centers, and the Government Ac-
countability Office, have documented poor conditions 
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and inhumane detainee treatment, including medical 
negligence, in immigration detention facilities. State 
oversight bodies, including the Office of the Attorney 
General of California, have also noted abuses at de-
tention centers within their borders. 
(4) Since 2003, more than 170 deaths have 
been reported in immigration detention facilities, a 
significant number of which resulted from egregious 
violations of ICE medical care standards, which were 
often overlooked during ICE inspections of facilities. 
Since the inauguration of President Trump, more 
than 24 people have died in ICE custody. 
(5) The Department of Homeland Security Of-
fice for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties and the Of-
fice of Inspector General have received formal com-
plaints and numerous allegations of inadequate med-
ical care for pregnant women who are in custody in 
such facilities. 
(6) Responses by the Department of Homeland 
Security to Freedom of Information Act requests 
suggest that fewer than 3 percent of the claims of 
sexual and physical abuse of detainees in such facili-
ties have been investigated by the Office of Inspector 
General. 
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(7) Multiple Federal oversight bodies, including 
the Homeland Security Advisory Council, have docu-
mented limited oversight and management account-
ability of immigration detention facilities, including 
a lack of reasonable inspections and deficient con-
tracting practices. 
(8) Some immigration detention facilities have 
unreasonably restricted visitation and access by at-
torneys and community groups in violation of appli-
cable requirements, raising serious due process con-
cerns. 
(9) The Department of Homeland Security 
seeks to vastly expand the immigration detention 
system despite the availability of a wide array of 
community-based alternatives to detention that pro-
vide cheaper, more compassionate, rights-respecting 
responses to migration. 
(10) Although the Family Case Management 
Program operated at a fraction of the cost of deten-
tion and resulted in nearly a 100 percent compliance 
rate among participants, the Department of Home-
land Security terminated the program without pro-
viding any justification. 
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act: 
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(1) APPROPRIATE
CONGRESSIONAL
COMMIT-
TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com-
mittees’’ means— 
(A) the Committee on Appropriations of 
the Senate; 
(B) the Committee on Homeland Security 
and Governmental Affairs of the Senate; 
(C) the Committee on the Judiciary of the 
Senate; 
(D) the Committee on Appropriations of 
the House of Representatives; 
(E) the Committee on Homeland Security 
of the House of Representatives; and 
(F) the Committee on the Judiciary of the 
House of Representatives. 
(2) EXPANSION.—The term ‘‘expansion’’— 
(A) means the acquisition of any new con-
tract, contract addendum, modification, or rider 
that would increase current immigration deten-
tion bed usage or activate existing unused im-
migration detention bed capacity for existing or 
new contracts at any immigration detention fa-
cility, including— 
(i) Bureau of Prison facilities; 
(ii) contract detention facilities; 
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(iii) intergovernmental service agree-
ments; 
(iv) service processing centers; 
(v) United States Marshals Service 
intergovernmental agreements on which 
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforce-
ment is an authorized user; and 
(vi) juvenile or family detention facili-
ties; and 
(B) does not include improvements or ren-
ovations unrelated to the increase of current 
immigration bed usage or activation of unused 
immigration bed capacity. 
(3) IMMIGRATION DETENTION FACILITY.—The 
term ‘‘immigration detention facility’’ means any 
site at which U.S. Immigration and Customs En-
forcement holds noncitizens in custody for any pe-
riod. 
SEC. 4. MORATORIUM ON EXPANSION OF IMMIGRATION DE-
TENTION FACILITIES. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Homeland Secu-
rity may not use any Federal funds for the construction 
or expansion of immigration detention facilities. 
(b) REPORTING.—Not later than 1 year after the 
date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Home-
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land Security shall submit a report to the appropriate con-
gressional committees that contains a detailed plan on— 
(1) how the number of immigration detention 
beds will be decreased to 50 percent of the number 
available during fiscal year 2018; and 
(2) how to implement community-based alter-
natives to detention, as a substitute for detention in 
a facility, which is developed in consultation with 
stakeholders, including nonprofit legal service pro-
viders, nonprofit shelter providers, and detention vis-
itation programs. 
(c) NOTIFICATION.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—If the Secretary of Home-
land Security determines that more immigration de-
tention space will be needed, the Secretary, not later 
than 60 days before such anticipated need, shall 
submit a written justification of such need to the 
chair and ranking member of the appropriate con-
gressional committees. 
(2) SAVINGS PROVISION.—Nothing in this sub-
section may be construed to authorize the use of 
Federal funds to expand immigration detention fa-
cilities without explicit statutory authorization after 
the date of the enactment of this Act. 
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(d) ENDING A CONTRACT.—If a facility is deemed 
less than adequate in the 2 most recent inspections, au-
dits, or investigations conducted by the Office of Inspector 
General of the Department of Homeland Security pursu-
ant to section 5(a)(1), the Department of Homeland Secu-
rity may not continue to contract with such facility. 
SEC. 5. INCREASED OVERSIGHT OF IMMIGRATION DETEN-
TION FACILITIES. 
(a) INSPECTIONS; AUDITS; INVESTIGATIONS.—In ad-
dition to exercising its responsibilities and duties under 
the Inspector General Act of 1978 (5 U.S.C. App.), the 
Office of the Inspector General of the Department of 
Homeland Security shall— 
(1) conduct— 
(A) unannounced periodic inspections of 
immigration detention facilities not less fre-
quently than annually; 
(B) audits of immigration detention facili-
ties to ensure compliance with the national 
standards 
established 
under 
the 
Violence 
Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013 
(Public Law 113–4) and the Standards to Pre-
vent, Detect, and Respond to Sexual Abuse and 
Assault in Confinement Facilities (79 Fed. Reg. 
13099 et seq.), which were published by the De-
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partment of Homeland Security on March 7, 
2014; and 
(C) investigations focused on health, safe-
ty, and due process concerns at immigration de-
tention facilities, including— 
(i) deaths in custody; 
(ii) detainee access to medical and 
mental health care, including pregnant 
women and other vulnerable populations; 
(iii) sexual assault and harassment; 
and 
(iv) compliance with legal visitation 
and access requirements; 
(2) measure inspections, audits, and investiga-
tions conducted pursuant to paragraph (1) against 
the American Bar Association’s Civil Detention 
Standards, in addition to the U.S. Immigration and 
Customs Enforcement standards to which each facil-
ity is held; 
(3) deliver a conclusion on adequacy at the con-
clusion of each inspection, audit, and investigation 
conducted pursuant to paragraph (1); and 
(4) make publicly available the results of the in-
spections, audits, and investigations conducted pur-
suant to paragraph (1) without compromising the 
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confidentiality of individuals who submitted com-
plaints. 
(b) CIVIL RIGHTS AND CIVIL LIBERTIES.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—The Office for Civil Rights 
and Civil Liberties of the Department of Homeland 
Security shall conduct investigations of civil rights 
and civil liberties complaints in immigration deten-
tion facilities in accordance with section 8I(f) of the 
Inspector General Act of 1978 (5 U.S.C. App.). 
(2) INFORMATION
REQUESTS.—Each compo-
nent agency of the Department of Homeland Secu-
rity shall comply with all document and information 
requests from the Office for Civil Rights and Civil 
Liberties to facilitate investigations under this sec-
tion. 
(c) REPORTING REQUIREMENTS.— 
(1) OFFICE OF INSPECTOR GENERAL.—The In-
spector General of the Department of Homeland Se-
curity shall— 
(A) not later than 60 days after any in-
spection, audit, or investigation, submit a re-
port to the appropriate congressional commit-
tees that summarizes the results, in accordance 
with subsection (a); and 
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(B) release aggregate data on its website 
on a quarterly basis, without compromising con-
fidentiality, regarding— 
(i) complaints lodged about or from 
an immigration detention facility; 
(ii) actions taken in response to such 
complaints; and 
(iii) investigation outcomes. 
(2) OFFICE OF CIVIL RIGHTS AND CIVIL LIB-
ERTIES.—The Office for Civil Rights and Civil Lib-
erties of the Department of Homeland Security 
shall— 
(A) not later than 60 days after the con-
clusion of any investigation under subsection 
(b), submit a report to the appropriate congres-
sional committees that summarizes the results 
of the investigation; and 
(B) release aggregate data on its website 
on a quarterly basis, without compromising con-
fidentiality, regarding— 
(i) complaints lodged about or from 
an immigration detention facility; 
(ii) actions taken in response to such 
complaints; and 
(iii) investigation outcomes. 
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(d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—In addi-
tion to amount otherwise authorized to be appropriated 
for such purposes, there is authorized to be appropriated 
to the Department of Homeland Security, for each of the 
fiscal years 2020 through 2028— 
(1) $45,000,000 to conduct and report on the 
inspections, audits, and investigations required 
under subsection (a); and 
(2) $10,000,000 to conduct and report on the 
investigations required under subsection (b). 
Æ 
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