I 
118TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2374 
To reform the process for enforcing the immigration laws of the United 
States, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH 29, 2023 
Mr. GARCI´A of Illinois (for himself, Mr. CASAR, Ms. PRESSLEY, Mr. 
ESPAILLAT, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN, Ms. NORTON, 
Ms. OCASIO-CORTEZ, Ms. GARCIA of Texas, Ms. CLARKE of New York, 
Mr. MCGOVERN, Ms. OMAR, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Mr. CA´RDENAS, Mr. 
POCAN, Ms. TLAIB, Mr. VARGAS, Mr. BOWMAN, Ms. BUSH, Ms. WIL-
LIAMS of Georgia, Ms. VELA´ZQUEZ, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, Ms. CHU, Mr. 
GRIJALVA, Ms. BARRAGA´N, Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia, Ms. MENG, Mr. 
GOMEZ, Mrs. RAMIREZ, Ms. WILSON of Florida, and Mr. FROST) intro-
duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Ju-
diciary 
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-
tract 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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