S. 5371

Stopping Border Surges Act

Sponsor: Mike Lee

7 cosponsors
Follow this bill

Official summary

No official summary yet.

Text of the bill

Expand all

I Unaccompanied Alien Children

Sec. 102. Clarification of standards for family detention

(a) In general. Section 235 of the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008 (8 U.S.C. 1232) is amended—

(1) by redesignating subsection (h) as subsection (j) and moving it so as to appear after subsection (i); and

(2) by inserting after subsection (g) the following:

Text this section adds to the law

(h) Rule of construction

(1) In general. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, judicial determination, consent decree, or settlement agreement—

(A) the detention of any alien child who is not an unaccompanied alien child shall be governed by sections 217, 235, 236, and 241 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1187, 1225, 1226, and 1231);

(B) there is no presumption that an alien child who is not an unaccompanied alien child should not be detained; and

(C) all determinations regarding the detention of such children shall be in the discretion of the Secretary of Homeland Security.

(2) Release of minors other than unaccompanied aliens. An alien minor who is not an unaccompanied alien child may not be released by the Secretary of Homeland Security other than to a parent or legal guardian who is lawfully present in the United States.

(3) Family detention. The Secretary of Homeland Security shall—

(A) maintain the care and custody of an alien, during the period during which the charges described in clause (i) are pending, who—

(i) is charged only with a misdemeanor offense under section 275(a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1325(a)); and

(ii) entered the United States with the alien’s child who has not attained 18 years of age; and

(B) detain the alien with the alien’s child.

(b) Sense of Congress. It is the sense of Congress that the amendment made by subsection (a) is intended to satisfy the requirements of the Settlement Agreement in Flores v. Meese, No. 85–4544 (C.D. Cal) as approved by the court on January 28, 1997, with respect to its interpretation in Flores v. Johnson, 212 F. Supp. 3d 864 (C.D. Cal. 2015), that the agreement applies to accompanied minors.

(c) Effective date. The amendment made by subsection (a)—

(1) shall take effect on the date of the enactment of this Act; and

(2) shall apply to all actions that occur before, on, or after such date of enactment.

(d) Preemption of State licensing requirements. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, judicial determination, consent decree, or settlement agreement, no State may require that an immigration detention facility used to detain children who have not attained 18 years of age, or families consisting of 1 or more of such children and the parents or legal guardians of such children, that is located in such State, be licensed by the State or by any political subdivision of such State.

II Asylum Reform