Families Deserve to Know Act

This bill would require the Department of Homeland Security to set up rules, within 180 days, for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to notify a detained person's emergency contact if the person dies, becomes seriously ill or injured, or is hospitalized. ICE would ask people for emergency contacts when taking custody, and would have to notify contacts within 12 hours of a death or hospitalization, with limited exceptions for delay. The rules would also apply to privately run and contract facilities, whose operators could face civil penalties of $100,000 per day a required notice is not made. The bill would require public and congressional reporting of deaths in ICE custody and audits by the Inspector General. It would also let detained people and their families sue the United States or contractors for violations.

Full text and official record on Congress.gov

Sponsors

• Ritchie Torres Democrat sponsor
• 2 cosponsors