HR 61 · 119th CongressIn Committee

Ensuring United Families at the Border Act

Latest updateJan 3, 2025

Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.

Immigration

Sponsor

Andy Biggs

Introduced

January 3, 2025

Latest action

January 3, 2025

Legislative Progress

How far this bill has traveled through Congress

Introduced

Bill filed in chamber

Committee

Reviewed & reported

Passed Chamber

House or Senate vote

Passed Both

House & Senate agree

President

Sent to White House

Enacted

Signed into law

Introduced

Bill filed in chamber

Committee

Reviewed & reported

Passed Chamber

House or Senate vote

Passed Both

House & Senate agree

President

Sent to White House

Enacted

Signed into law

Latest Action

Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.

Plain-Language Summary

AI Generated

Under current law, the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008 and related court settlements, including the Flores v. Meese agreement, establish standards for how the federal government detains immigrant children. These rules generally presume that children should not be detained and impose specific conditions on family detention — including requirements that detention facilities meet state licensing standards. The law distinguishes between unaccompanied children and children traveling with parents, with different protections applying to each group.

This bill amends the William Wilberforce Act to clarify detention standards for children traveling with parents. The Department of Homeland Security is authorized to detain alien children who are not unaccompanied — meaning those traveling with a parent or guardian — under the same rules that apply to adult immigration cases, removing the presumption against their detention. The bill specifically permits DHS to maintain custody of parents charged only with misdemeanor illegal entry offenses and to detain those parents together with their children during pending immigration proceedings. Additionally, the bill preempts state licensing requirements, prohibiting states from requiring that immigration detention facilities holding children or families obtain state licenses.

The changes take effect immediately upon enactment and apply retroactively to all prior actions. The bill does not specify new funding but operates within existing DHS detention authority and budgets. By removing the presumption against detaining accompanied children and eliminating state licensing oversight, the bill expands the federal government's capacity to hold families in immigration detention while reducing state-level regulatory requirements. This shifts detention standards away from the protections established by decades of litigation and toward alignment with general immigration enforcement procedures.

Key Provisions

1Authorize the Department of Homeland Security to detain alien children traveling with parents under standard immigration detention rules rather than under the heightened protections currently applied to accompanied minors.
2Require DHS to detain parents charged with misdemeanor illegal entry offenses together with their children during the pendency of immigration charges.
3Eliminate the presumption that children who are not unaccompanied should not be detained, replacing it with detention authority governed by general immigration statutes.
4Preempt state licensing requirements for immigration detention facilities holding children or families, prohibiting states from imposing their own regulatory standards on such facilities.
5Apply the amendments retroactively to all actions occurring before, on, or after the date of enactment.

★ Why this matters

The bill removes federal legal barriers to family detention by eliminating the presumption against detaining accompanied children and preempting state licensing rules. This expands the government's authority to hold immigrant families in detention facilities during immigration proceedings. Detention conditions, duration, and oversight would shift from child-protective standards to general immigration enforcement procedures. State governments would lose the ability to enforce their own safety and licensing standards on these facilities.

● Who this affects

Immigrant families apprehended at the border — particularly parents charged with misdemeanor illegal entry and their children under 18 — would face expanded detention authority. The Department of Homeland Security would gain broader discretion to detain accompanied minors. State governments and child welfare agencies would lose regulatory authority over detention facility standards within their borders. Immigration detention facility operators would face reduced state-level licensing requirements. Advocacy organizations focused on immigrant rights and child welfare would experience changes to the legal framework they operate within.

Bill Text

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<DOC>

119th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 H. R. 61

    To amend the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection 
    Reauthorization Act of 2008 to clarify the standards for family 
                   detention, and for other purposes.

                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 3, 2025

  Mr. Biggs of Arizona (for himself, Mr. Burlison, Mr. Crane, and Mr. 
    Nehls) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                       Committee on the Judiciary

                                 A BILL

 
    To amend the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection 
    Reauthorization Act of 2008 to clarify the standards for family 
                   detention, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Ensuring United Families at the 
Border Act''.

SEC. 2. 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 by adding at the end the following:
    ``(j) Construction.--
            ``(1) In general.--Notwithstanding any other provision of 
        law, judicial determination, consent decree, or settlement 
        agreement, 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). There is no presumption 
        that an alien child who is not an unaccompanied alien child 
        should not be detained.
            ``(2) 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 
amendments in this section to section 235 of the William Wilberforce 
Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008 (8 U.S.C. 
1232) are 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…

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D-North Carolina · District 12

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Ensuring United Families at the Border Act

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Ensuring United Families at the Border Act

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