S.Amdt. 1496

SA 1496. Mr. TUBERVILLE submitted an amendment intended to be
submitted by him to the bill H.R. 815, to amend title 38, United States
Code, to make certain improvements relating to the eligibility of
veterans to receive reimbursement for emergency treatment furnished
through the Veterans Community Care program, and for other purposes;
which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:

At the appropriate place, insert the following:

SEC. __. CLARIFICATION OF STANDARDS FOR FAMILY DETENTION.

(a) Amendment.--
(1) In general.--Section 235 of the William Wilberforce
Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008 (8
U.S.C. 1232) is amended by adding at the end the following:
``(j) Construction.--
``(1) In general.--Notwithstanding any other provision of
law, judicial determination, consent decree, or settlement
agreement, the detention of any alien child who is not an
unaccompanied alien child shall be governed by sections 217,
235, 236, and 241 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8
U.S.C. 1187, 1225, 1226, and 1231). There is no presumption
that an alien child who is not an unaccompanied alien child
should not be detained.
``(2) Family detention.--The Secretary of Homeland Security
shall--
``(A) maintain the care and custody of an alien, during the
period during which the charges described in clause (i) are
pending, who--
``(i) is charged only with a misdemeanor offense under
section 275(a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8
U.S.C. 1325(a)); and
``(ii) entered the United States with the alien's child who
has not attained 18 years of age; and
``(B) detain the alien with the alien's child.''.
(2) Effective date.--The amendment made by paragraph (1)
shall--
(A) take effect on the date of the enactment of this Act;
and
(B) apply to all actions that occur before, on, or after
such date.
(b) Sense of Congress.--It is the sense of Congress that
the amendment made by subsection (a)(1) are intended to
satisfy the requirements of the Settlement Agreement in
Flores v. Meese, No. 85-4544 (C.D. Cal), as approved by the
court on January 28, 1997, with respect to its interpretation
in Flores v. Johnson, 212 F. Supp. 3d 864 (C.D. Cal. 2015),
that the agreement applies to accompanied minors.
(c) Preemption of State Licensing Requirements.--
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, judicial
determination, consent decree, or settlement agreement, no
State may require that an immigration detention facility used
to detain children who are younger than 18 years of age, or
families consisting of 1 or more of such children and the
parents or legal guardians of such childr6en, that is located
in that State, be licensed by the State or by any political
subdivision of such State.
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