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This bill would sharply limit when people in immigration custody can be released, and it would require much stricter tracking for people on the non-detained immigration court docket. It says release through the Alternatives to Detention program should happen only if detention beds are already full, no detention space is available, and immigration officials have tried and exhausted all reasonable ways to keep someone detained. It would also place all non-detained immigration cases into the tracking program with continuous GPS monitoring, add a nightly curfew, and require removal in absentia if someone fails to follow a release condition.
- People could not be released through Alternatives to Detention unless detention beds are full and officials have no other way to hold them.
- Anyone on the non-detained immigration court docket would have to be enrolled in Alternatives to Detention and wear or carry GPS monitoring for the full length of their case, including appeals.
- If a person is ordered removed, GPS monitoring would continue until they are removed from the United States.
- People in the program would have to stay at their approved home address between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m., and if an officer tells the immigration judge that someone broke a release condition, that person could be ordered removed without being present.
Official Summaries
Justice for Jocelyn Act
This bill limits Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE’s) Alternatives to Detention program, which supervises non-U.S. nationals (aliens under federal law) subject to removal who are released from the custody of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Specifically, releases under this program are prohibited unless all detention beds are filled and DHS found no alternatives after exercising and exhausting all reasonable options.
The bill requires all individuals on ICE’s nondetained docket to be enrolled in the program and be subject to continuous GPS monitoring and curfew.
Further, the bill requires a non-U.S. national who was arrested and released to be removed in absentia if an immigration officer submits an affidavit to an immigration judge stating that the individual failed to comply with a condition of release.
Current Full Text
[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 355 Introduced in House (IH)]
<DOC>
119th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 355
To remove aliens who fail to comply with a release order, to enroll all
aliens on the nondetained docket of an immigration court in the
Alternatives to Detention program with continuous GPS monitoring, and
for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
January 13, 2025
Mr. Nehls (for himself, Mr. Hunt, and Mr. Biggs of Arizona) introduced
the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the
Judiciary
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To remove aliens who fail to comply with a release order, to enroll all
aliens on the nondetained docket of an immigration court in the
Alternatives to Detention program with continuous GPS monitoring, 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 ``Justice for Jocelyn Act''.
SEC. 2. LIMITATION ON PARTICIPATION IN ALTERNATIVES TO DETENTION.
No alien may be released as part of any program under the
Alternatives to Detention program unless--
(1) all detention beds available to the Secretary have been
filled;
(2) there exists no available option to hold aliens in
detention; and
(3) the Secretary exercised and exhausted all reasonable
efforts to hold aliens in detention.
SEC. 3. GPS TRACKING AND CURFEW REQUIREMENTS FOR CERTAIN ALIENS.
Each alien on the Immigration and Customs Enforcement's nondetained
docket shall be enrolled in the Alternatives to Detention program and--
(1) shall be continuously subject to GPS monitoring--
(A) for the duration of all applicable immigration
proceedings, including any appeal; and
(B) in the case of an alien who is ordered removed
from the United States, until removal; and
(2) shall be required to stay in their Alternatives to
Detention-compliant home address between the hours of 10 p.m.
to 5 a.m.
SEC. 4. REMOVAL OF ALIENS WHO FAIL TO COMPLY WITH RELEASE ORDER.
Section 240(b)(5) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C.
1229a(b)(5)) is amended by adding at the end the following:
``(F) Failure to comply with release order.--In the
case that an immigration officer submits an affidavit
to an immigration judge stating that an alien failed to
comply with a condition of release under section
236(a), such alien shall be ordered removed in
absentia.''.
SEC. 5. SEVERABILITY.
If any provision of this Act or the application of such provision
to any person or circumstance is held by a Federal court to be
unconstitutional, the remainder of this Act and the application of such
provisions to any other person or circumstance shall not be affected.
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