| 1 | 1 | | I |
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| 2 | 2 | | 119THCONGRESS |
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| 3 | 3 | | 1 |
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| 4 | 4 | | STSESSION H. R. 61 |
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| 5 | 5 | | To amend the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthor- |
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| 6 | 6 | | ization Act of 2008 to clarify the standards for family detention, and |
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| 7 | 7 | | for other purposes. |
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| 8 | 8 | | IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES |
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| 9 | 9 | | JANUARY3, 2025 |
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| 10 | 10 | | Mr. B |
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| 11 | 11 | | IGGSof Arizona (for himself, Mr. BURLISON, Mr. CRANE, and Mr. |
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| 12 | 12 | | N |
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| 13 | 13 | | EHLS) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com- |
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| 14 | 14 | | mittee on the Judiciary |
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| 15 | 15 | | A BILL |
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| 16 | 16 | | To amend the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Pro- |
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| 17 | 17 | | tection Reauthorization Act of 2008 to clarify the stand- |
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| 18 | 18 | | ards for family detention, and for other purposes. |
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| 19 | 19 | | Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1 |
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| 20 | 20 | | tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 |
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| 21 | 21 | | SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 |
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| 22 | 22 | | This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Ensuring United Fam-4 |
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| 23 | 23 | | ilies at the Border Act’’. 5 |
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| 24 | 24 | | SEC. 2. CLARIFICATION OF STANDARDS FOR FAMILY DE-6 |
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| 25 | 25 | | TENTION. 7 |
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| 26 | 26 | | (a) I |
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| 27 | 27 | | NGENERAL.—Section 235 of the William Wil-8 |
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| 28 | 28 | | berforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization 9 |
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| 29 | 29 | | VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:17 Jan 28, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H61.IH H61 |
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| 30 | 30 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 2 |
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| 31 | 31 | | •HR 61 IH |
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| 32 | 32 | | Act of 2008 (8 U.S.C. 1232) is amended by adding at 1 |
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| 33 | 33 | | the end the following: 2 |
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| 34 | 34 | | ‘‘(j) C |
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| 35 | 35 | | ONSTRUCTION.— 3 |
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| 36 | 36 | | ‘‘(1) I |
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| 37 | 37 | | N GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other 4 |
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| 38 | 38 | | provision of law, judicial determination, consent de-5 |
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| 39 | 39 | | cree, or settlement agreement, the detention of any 6 |
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| 40 | 40 | | alien child who is not an unaccompanied alien child 7 |
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| 41 | 41 | | shall be governed by sections 217, 235, 236, and 8 |
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| 42 | 42 | | 241 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 9 |
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| 43 | 43 | | U.S.C. 1187, 1225, 1226, and 1231). There is no 10 |
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| 44 | 44 | | presumption that an alien child who is not an unac-11 |
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| 45 | 45 | | companied alien child should not be detained. 12 |
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| 46 | 46 | | ‘‘(2) F |
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| 47 | 47 | | AMILY DETENTION .—The Secretary of 13 |
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| 48 | 48 | | Homeland Security shall— 14 |
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| 49 | 49 | | ‘‘(A) maintain the care and custody of an 15 |
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| 50 | 50 | | alien, during the period during which the 16 |
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| 51 | 51 | | charges described in clause (i) are pending, 17 |
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| 52 | 52 | | who— 18 |
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| 53 | 53 | | ‘‘(i) is charged only with a mis-19 |
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| 54 | 54 | | demeanor offense under section 275(a) of 20 |
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| 55 | 55 | | the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 21 |
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| 56 | 56 | | U.S.C. 1325(a)); and 22 |
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| 57 | 57 | | ‘‘(ii) entered the United States with 23 |
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| 58 | 58 | | the alien’s child who has not attained 18 24 |
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| 59 | 59 | | years of age; and 25 |
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| 60 | 60 | | VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:17 Jan 28, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H61.IH H61 |
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| 61 | 61 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 3 |
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| 62 | 62 | | •HR 61 IH |
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| 63 | 63 | | ‘‘(B) detain the alien with the alien’s 1 |
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| 64 | 64 | | child.’’. 2 |
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| 65 | 65 | | (b) S |
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| 66 | 66 | | ENSE OFCONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con-3 |
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| 67 | 67 | | gress that the amendments in this section to section 235 4 |
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| 68 | 68 | | of the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection 5 |
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| 69 | 69 | | Reauthorization Act of 2008 (8 U.S.C. 1232) are intended 6 |
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| 70 | 70 | | to satisfy the requirements of the Settlement Agreement 7 |
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| 71 | 71 | | in Flores v. Meese, No. 85–4544 (C.D. Cal) as approved 8 |
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| 72 | 72 | | by the court on January 28, 1997, with respect to its in-9 |
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| 73 | 73 | | terpretation in Flores v. Johnson, 212 F. Supp. 3d 864 10 |
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| 74 | 74 | | (C.D. Cal. 2015), that the agreement applies to accom-11 |
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| 75 | 75 | | panied minors. 12 |
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| 76 | 76 | | (c) E |
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| 77 | 77 | | FFECTIVEDATE.—The amendment made by 13 |
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| 78 | 78 | | subsection (a) shall take effect on the date of the enact-14 |
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| 79 | 79 | | ment of this Act and shall apply to all actions that occur 15 |
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| 80 | 80 | | before, on, or after the date of the enactment of this Act. 16 |
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| 81 | 81 | | (d) P |
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| 82 | 82 | | REEMPTION OF STATELICENSINGREQUIRE-17 |
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| 83 | 83 | | MENTS.—Notwithstanding any other provision of law, ju-18 |
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| 84 | 84 | | dicial determination, consent decree, or settlement agree-19 |
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| 85 | 85 | | ment, no State may require that an immigration detention 20 |
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| 86 | 86 | | facility used to detain children who have not attained 18 21 |
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| 87 | 87 | | years of age, or families consisting of one or more of such 22 |
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| 88 | 88 | | children and the parents or legal guardians of such chil-23 |
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| 90 | 90 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 4 |
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| 91 | 91 | | •HR 61 IH |
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| 92 | 92 | | dren, that is located in that State, be licensed by the State 1 |
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| 93 | 93 | | or any political subdivision thereof. 2 |
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| 94 | 94 | | Æ |
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| 95 | 95 | | VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:17 Jan 28, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H61.IH H61 |
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| 96 | 96 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB |
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