Families Deserve to Know Act

Summary#

This bill requires U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to collect emergency contact information when it takes someone into custody and to notify those contacts if the person dies, becomes seriously ill, or is seriously injured. The bill sets specific timeframes for notification, requires a standard form and recordkeeping, and requires language access. It covers deaths that happen in custody and deaths within 30 days after release when ICE knows or should know of the death. The bill requires written notification plans, public reporting, internal reviews, audits by the Inspector General, and a complaint process through the Officer for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties.

Key notification rules in the bill include: for a covered death, ICE must notify the emergency contact within 12 hours of the declaration or learning of the death and generally between 6:00 a.m. and midnight local time; for serious illness or injury, ICE must notify as soon as practicable and in many cases not later than 12 hours (or 24 hours for some events). Notifications must include details about the event, location, medical care, and points of contact. The bill also requires documentation of all notification attempts in the individual's custodial record and retention of records for at least 10 years.

The bill applies to all facilities holding ICE detainees, including contract and intergovernmental facilities. Contracts must require compliance, immediate reporting of deaths and serious medical events, and include penalties for noncompliance. Contractors that fail to notify as required face a civil penalty of $100,000 for each day a required notification remains unmade. The bill allows families or affected individuals to sue for violations and waives sovereign immunity for these suits. It also limits how the collected emergency contact information may be used or disclosed.

What it means for you#

• If you are taken into ICE custody, you will be asked for emergency contact names, phone numbers, addresses, emails, and preferences for who to notify and in what order.
• You can update your emergency contact information at any time and will be offered an opportunity to review it at least every 90 days.
• If you die or suffer a serious illness or injury in custody, ICE must try to notify your listed contacts quickly and provide information about the circumstances, place of care, and how to obtain remains or reports like autopsies.
• Families and emergency contacts may file complaints with the civil rights office and may bring civil lawsuits seeking damages and other relief.
• Contract facilities that fail to notify face large daily fines and possible termination and debarment.

Expenses#

The text states that no additional funds are authorized to carry out the act; it must be implemented using amounts otherwise available to the Department of Homeland Security. The bill creates a Family Notification Fund to receive contractor fines. The bill prescribes civil penalties and remedies in the text: contractor civil penalties of $100,000 for each day a required notification remains unmade, and statutory damages of not less than $100,000 per violation available to a prevailing plaintiff in a civil action. No publicly available information on overall budgetary estimates or net fiscal impact is provided in the bill text.

Proponents' View#

No publicly available information.

Opponents' View#

No publicly available information.