Sponsors (18)
Official title: Provide protections for children in immigration custody, and for other purposes.
Introduced July 22, 2026 by Jeff Merkley · Last progress July 22, 2026
The bill sharply strengthens protections, care standards, legal representation, oversight, and privacy for noncitizen children in federal custody — at the trade‑off of substantially higher costs, greater operational complexity, potential placement bottlenecks, and constraints on immigration‑enforcement access to ORR records.
Noncitizen children (and their families) will be kept together when safe and prioritized for placement in family‑like, least‑restrictive settings with timelines and requirements to speed reunification.
Children in DHS/HHS custody will receive prompt, trauma‑informed medical and mental‑health care (screening within days, continuity of medications, immunizations, and special‑needs services), plus culturally and linguistically appropriate supports.
Every unaccompanied child will have access to legal orientation and government‑funded counsel (and independent child advocates), with counsel able to continue representation through ancillary matters and obtain case files to prepare cases.
Taxpayers, federal agencies, and state/local governments will face substantial new costs to staff, license, train, monitor, and provide legal and medical services for children in custody.
Placement capacity and implementation may be strained — stricter placement rules, limits on using ICE facilities, timelines, and transitions away from congregate care risk placement delays, temporary releases, or reliance on emergency 'influx' facilities.
Privacy and limits on ORR record access (and narrow evidentiary standards) could impede DHS/DOJ investigations or immigration enforcement actions and complicate fact‑gathering for national‑security or removal cases.
Based on analysis of 12 sections of legislative text.
Strengthens protections for unaccompanied and accompanied noncitizen children by restricting separations, limiting secure placements, guaranteeing counsel and advocates, creating an independent Ombudsperson, and protecting ORR records.
Sets new, detailed protections and procedures for unaccompanied and accompanied noncitizen children in federal immigration custody. It defines terms, limits separation from caregivers, requires trauma‑informed screening by independent child welfare experts, expands legal counsel and child‑advocate access, creates an independent HHS Ombudsperson office, and restricts sharing of ORR case files with immigration enforcement. Establishes placement and facility standards, strict limits on secure or ICE placements, rules for emergency/influx housing, mandatory training for CBP personnel, confidentiality and informed‑consent rules for records, and funding/authorities to staff courts, advocates, and counsel to improve timely case processing and protect children’s best interests.