Sponsors (18)
The bill makes it easier for detainees to notify trusted contacts and protects that information from enforcement use — improving communication and privacy for many immigrants — while imposing modest administrative costs on agencies and leaving gaps for short port-of-entry detentions and failed notifications.
Immigrants detained by CBP or ICE can designate a contact who will be notified before their release, reducing family anxiety and helping arrange pickup or support.
Immigrants detained by CBP or ICE: collected contact information is prohibited from use for immigration enforcement, protecting detainees' privacy and reducing fear of seeking help or designating contacts.
Immigrants and their designated contacts are offered translation and interpretation in their chosen language when notifications are made, improving communication and reducing misunderstandings.
CBP and ICE (and related local agencies) will face modest administrative burdens and implementation costs to collect contact data, provide translations, and operate notification procedures.
Parents and families of detained individuals may still not be reached if the provided contact information is incorrect or notifications fail despite two attempts, leaving some families uninformed.
Travelers and migrants briefly detained at ports of entry (under 12 hours) are exempted, so their designated contacts may not be notified and the benefit does not cover all short detentions.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Requires DHS to offer detainees the option to designate a contact, collect that contact's info, notify them before release with translation, and bar enforcement use of the data.
Official title: To require the Secretary of Homeland Security to notify a designated point of contact of release of a detained individual, and for other purposes.
Introduced June 2, 2026 by Timothy M. Kennedy · Last progress June 2, 2026
Requires the Department of Homeland Security to offer every person detained by CBP or ICE the chance to name a point of contact and to collect that contact's information. DHS must try at least twice and notify the designated contact before the person's release (with a short-stay port-of-entry exception), provide interpretation and translation when offering and when notifying, and forbid using the collected contact information for immigration enforcement.