United States HR 3563: Stop Shackling and Detaining Pregnant Women Act

Bill Text

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116TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION H. R. 3563
To ensure the humane treatment of pregnant women by reinstating the
presumption of release and prohibiting shackling, restraining, and other
inhumane treatment of pregnant detainees, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JUNE 27, 2019
Ms. GARCIA of Texas (for herself, Mrs. CAROLYN B. MALONEY of New York,
Ms. NORTON, Mr. ESPAILLAT, Mrs. KIRKPATRICK, Mr. CARSON of Indi-
ana, Mr. GRIJALVA, Ms. ESCOBAR, Mr. CA ́RDENAS, Mr. VARGAS, Ms.
SHALALA, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ, Mr. BLU-
MENAUER, Ms. KAPTUR, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia,
Ms. MOORE, Mr. RUSH, Ms. ADAMS, Ms. TLAIB, Ms. MENG, Mr. GARCI ́A
of Illinois, Mr. GONZALEZ of Texas, Mr. NADLER, Mr. MCGOVERN, Ms.
DEGETTE, Ms. DELAURO, Mr. HASTINGS, Ms. HAALAND, Ms.
VELA ́ZQUEZ, Mr. CISNEROS, Mr. POCAN, and Ms. OCASIO-CORTEZ) intro-
duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Ju-
diciary
A BILL
To ensure the humane treatment of pregnant women by
reinstating the presumption of release and prohibiting
shackling, restraining, and other inhumane treatment of
pregnant detainees, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Stop Shackling and 2
Detaining Pregnant Women Act’’. 3
SEC. 2. LIMITATION ON DETENTION OF PREGNANT WOMEN 4
AND MOTHERS OF NEWBORNS. 5
(a) PRESUMPTION OF RELEASE.— 6
(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para-7
graph (2), the Secretary— 8
(A) shall not detain a person under any 9
provision of the Immigration and Nationality 10
Act (8 U.S.C. 1101 et seq.) during pregnancy 11
or postpartum recovery, pending a decision with 12
respect to whether the person is to be removed 13
from the United States; and 14
(B) shall immediately release any detainee 15
found to be pregnant. 16
(2) EXCEPTIONS.—The Secretary may detain 17
pursuant to the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 18
U.S.C. 1101 et seq.) a person during pregnancy or 19
postpartum recovery under extraordinary circum-20
stances in which the Secretary makes an individual-21
ized determination that credible, reasonable grounds 22
exist to believe that the person presents an imme-23
diate and serious threat of hurting herself or others. 24
(3) REMOVAL.—In a case in which detention is 25
the least restrictive means of effectuating the re-26
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moval from the United States of a pregnant person 1
who is the subject of a final order of deportation or 2
removal, the Secretary may, solely for the purpose of 3
such removal, detain the pregnant person for a pe-4
riod that is— 5
(A) the shortest possible period imme-6
diately preceding the removal of the person 7
from the United States; and 8
(B) not more than 5 days. 9
(b) WEEKLY REVIEW REQUIRED.— 10
(1) IN GENERAL.—With respect to a detainee 11
detained under paragraph (2) of subsection (a), not 12
less frequently than once each week, the Secretary 13
shall conduct an individualized review to determine 14
whether the detainee continues to be subject to de-15
tention under that paragraph. 16
(2) RELEASE.—In the case of a determination 17
under paragraph (1) that a pregnant detainee is not 18
subject to detention under subsection (a)(2), not 19
later than 1 day after the date on which the Sec-20
retary makes the determination, the Secretary shall 21
release the detainee. 22
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SEC. 3. HUMANE TREATMENT OF PREGNANT WOMEN 1
WHILE IN DETENTION. 2
(a) PROHIBITION ON RESTRAINT OF PREGNANT DE-3
TAINEES.— 4
(1) PROHIBITION.—Except as provided in para-5
graph (2), a detention facility shall not use a re-6
straint on a detainee— 7
(A) known to be pregnant, including dur-8
ing— 9
(i) labor; 10
(ii) transport to a medical facility or 11
birthing center; and 12
(iii) delivery; or 13
(B) during postpartum recovery. 14
(2) USE OF RESTRAINTS FOR MEDICAL PUR-15
POSES AND IN EXTRAORDINARY CIRCUMSTANCES.— 16
(A) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding para-17
graph (1), subject to subparagraph (B), use of 18
a restraint on a detainee described in para-19
graph (1) may be permitted only— 20
(i) for a medical purpose if the lead 21
medical staff of the detention facility who 22
is a licensed health care provider has or-23
dered the use of the restraint for the med-24
ical purpose; or 25
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(ii) in an e