SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘ ‘Practical Alternatives 
to Detention Act’ ’’. 
SEC. 2. ALTERNATIVES TO DETENTION. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than one year after the 
date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Home-
land Security shall fully implement and use alternatives 
to detention programs, including a family case manage-
ment program, in accordance with this section. 
(b) SCREENING.—The Secretary shall screen aliens 
who are in the custody of the Department of Homeland 
Security to determine whether their compliance with the 
immigration laws (as such term is defined in section 101 
of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101)) 
and immigration court proceedings could likely be secured 
through participation in an alternatives to detention pro-
gram, and shall enroll qualifying aliens in such programs 
in accordance with the program requirements described in 
subsection (d). The Secretary shall prioritize screening 
and enrolling in such programs the following aliens: 
(1) Aliens who are pregnant. 
(2) Aliens who have serious or ongoing medical 
or mental health needs or a disability. 
(3) Aliens who are being detained with one or 
more of their children who are under the age of 18, 
or who are caregivers for any family member in the 
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United States who has a serious or ongoing medical 
or mental health need or a disability. 
(4) Asylum seekers and torture survivors who 
have demonstrated a credible fear of persecution or 
a reasonable fear of torture. 
(5) Any other aliens the Secretary determines 
appropriate to prioritize. 
(6) During any declared public health emer-
gency declared by the Secretary of Health and 
Human Services under section 319 of the Public 
Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 247d), aliens at ele-
vated risk of— 
(A) death, injury, or serious illness from 
possible exposure in detention to a disease re-
lated to the public health emergency; or 
(B) developing a disorder from possible ex-
posure in detention to a disease related to the 
public health emergency. 
(c) CERTAIN ALIENS INELIGIBLE.—An alien shall 
not be eligible for an alternatives to detention program 
under this section if— 
(1) the alien is subject to mandatory detention 
under section 236A of the Immigration and Nation-
ality Act (8 U.S.C. 1226a); or 
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(2) the alien, in the discretion of the Secretary, 
presents a flight risk, a risk to others, or a risk to 
national security, and the risk cannot be reasonably 
mitigated through an alternatives to detention pro-
gram. 
(d) PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS.—The alternatives to 
detention programs used pursuant to this section shall use 
evidence-based practices demonstrated to mitigate the 
risks described in subsection (c)(2) and promote compli-
ance with the immigration laws in a cost efficient manner. 
(e) QUARTERLY REPORTS.—Not later than 90 days 
after the date of the enactment of this Act, and every 90 
days thereafter, the Secretary shall submit to the appro-
priate congressional committees reports on the following: 
(1) Aliens who were detained in the custody of 
the Department of Homeland Security at any point 
during the previous 90-day period, including, with 
respect to such period, the following information: 
(A) The number of aliens subject to man-
datory detention under section 236A of the Im-
migration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 
1226a) who were detained for 90 days or more, 
and a description of the reason or reasons for 
each such detention. 
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(B) The number of aliens detained for 7 
days or more, and the number of such aliens 
who— 
(i) had a serious or ongoing medical 
or mental health need or disability; 
(ii) were detained with one or more 
children under the alien’s care; 
(iii) are asylum seekers or torture sur-
vivors who have demonstrated a credible 
fear of persecution or a reasonable fear of 
torture; or 
(iv) were detained during a public 
health emergency declared by the Secretary 
of Health and Human Services under sec-
tion 319 of the Public Health Service Act 
(42 U.S.C. 247d), and were at elevated 
risk of— 
(I) death, injury, or serious ill-
ness from possible exposure in deten-
tion to a disease related to the public 
health emergency; or 
(II) developing a disorder from 
possible exposure in detention to a 
disease related to the public health 
emergency. 
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(C) A description of the reason for the de-
tention of each alien described in each of 
clauses (i), (ii), (iii), and (iv) of subparagraph 
(B). 
(D) The number of aliens detained for 48 
hours or more who were pregnant, the duration 
of each such alien’s detention, and a description 
of the reason or reasons for each such deten-
tion. 
(E) The number of aliens who suffered 
miscarriages while detained, and a description 
of any medical services made available to each 
such alien. 
(2) Alternatives to detention programs, includ-
ing, for each such program, with respect to the pre-
vious 90-day period, the following information: 
(A) The number of adults who participated 
in the program, the number of their own chil-
dren under their care, and the number of any 
other children under their care. 
(B) The services provided and the levels of 
monitoring maintained for aliens participating 
in the program. 
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(C) The rates of participants’ compliance 
with immigration check-ins, court dates, and re-
moval proceedings. 
(D) The number of participants who ab-
sconded. 
(E) The per-participant costs of the pro-
gram. 
The Secretary shall ensure that any information collected, 
published, or otherwise made available under this sub-
section does not reveal personally identifiable information. 
(f) ANNUAL REPORT.—Not later than 90 days after 
the date of the enactment of this Act, and annually there-
after at the time of submission of the President’s budget 
request, the Secretary shall submit to the appropriate con-
gressional committees a strategy— 
(1) to evaluate the costs and effectiveness of 
different elements and combinations of elements of 
alternatives to detention programs for different 
groups of participants; and 
(2) to allocate resources for detention programs 
and alternatives to detention programs in such a 
way as to minimize costs to the Federal Government 
and maximize compliance with the immigration laws. 
(g) COMPTROLLER GENERAL REPORT.—Not later 
than one year after the date of the enactment of this Act, 
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and annually thereafter for the succeeding 5 years, the 
Comptroller General of the United States shall submit to 
the appropriate congressional committees the following: 
(1) A report on the effectiveness of the alter-
natives to detention programs used pursuant to this 
section at mitigating risks to public safety and na-
tional security and promoting compliance with the 
immigration laws in a cost efficient manner. 
(2) A report on the status of immigration court 
backlogs, the causes for such backlogs, and rec-
ommendations for how many additional immigration 
judges and support staff may be needed to facilitate 
timely and fair immigration proceedings. 
(h) CONTRACT AUTHORITY.—The Secretary may 
enter into contracts with qualified nongovernmental enti-
ties to implement the alternatives to detention programs 
required under this section. 
(i) APPLICATION TO UNACCOMPANIED ALIEN CHIL-
DREN.—Nothing in this section shall be construed to mod-
ify the care and custody of unaccompanied alien children 
(as such term is defined in section 462(g)(2) of the Home-
land Security Act (6 U.S.C. 279(g)(2))). 
(j) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
(1) APPROPRIATE
CONGRESSIONAL
COMMIT-
TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com-
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mittees’’ means the Committee on the Judiciary of 
the House of Representatives, the Committee on 
Oversight and Government Reform of the House of 
Representatives, the Committee on Appropriations of 
the House of Representatives, the Committee on the 
Judiciary of the Senate, the Committee on Home-
land Security and Governmental Affairs of the Sen-
ate, and the Committee on Appropriations of the 
Senate. 
(2) FAMILY
CASE
MANAGEMENT
PROGRAM.— 
The term ‘‘family case management program’’ 
means an alternatives to detention program to sup-
port compliance of family units with immigration 
proceedings by providing services, which may include 
the following: 
(A) Individualized family service plans. 
(B) Information about options available to 
obtain legal counsel. 
(C) Education about the family’s legal 
rights and responsibilities. 
(D) Tracking and monitoring of immigra-
tion obligations, including attendance at immi-
gration court proceedings. 
(E) Assistance with transportation logis-
tics, in the case of an emergency, to attend a 
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required U.S. Immigration and Customs En-
forcement check-in, a court appearance, or to 
further removal. 
(F) Reintegration planning for participants 
who are returning to their home countries. 
(3) EFFECTIVENESS.—The term ‘‘effectiveness’’ 
means, with respect to an alternatives to detention 
program, the rate of success of the program at se-
curing participants’ attendance at immigration 
check-ins, court dates, and removal proceedings. 
(4) FLIGHT
RISK.—The term ‘‘flight risk’’ 
means, with respect to an individual, that the Sec-
retary of Homeland Security has found, based on in-
dividualized facts, that the individual is more likely 
than not to intentionally fail to appear at required 
immigration court proceedings. 
Æ 
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