HR5941-119

What This Bill Does

The Restoring Access for Detainees Act responds to Congress's concern that civil immigration detainees often cannot maintain family contact or legal representation through existing detention communication systems. The findings point to a 2020 Trump administration program that gave detained individuals up to 520 free telephone minutes per month during the COVID-19 emergency, note that the program stopped in 2024 for lack of funding, and state that some of ICE's additional funding under Public Law 119-21 should be reserved to restore free service. The operative section requires any alien in DHS custody to receive at least one 10-minute communication with an immediate family member during the first five hours of custody and again within five hours after transfer to a new location, with continued attempts if the first effort fails. It also provides at least 200 free outgoing minutes each month for family communication; private communication opportunities with legal counsel, potential counsel, consular officials, detention-condition investigators, the Office of the Immigration Detention Ombudsman, the DHS Inspector General, and the DHS Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties; and unlimited free minutes for protected legal, court, UNHCR, immigration-office, document-request, and ICE Office of Professional Responsibility intake communications. Facilities may regulate time, place, and manner consistently, but they may not cap attorney minutes, impose automatic cutoffs on legal calls, or count incoming calls against free minutes.

Who Benefits and How

Detained immigrants in DHS custody benefit because the bill guarantees family notification, at least 200 monthly free minutes, and unlimited free protected communications with counsel, courts, consulates, oversight offices, UNHCR, and relevant government offices. Immediate family members benefit because detainees must be given a prompt 10-minute call after custody begins and after transfer, with continued attempts until contact succeeds. Immigration attorneys and potential legal counsel benefit because detainee communications with them must be private, free, unlimited, and protected from automatic cutoffs. Consular officials, immigration courts, the Board of Immigration Appeals, UNHCR, and DHS oversight offices benefit because detainees receive free channels to reach them about legal proceedings, documentation, and detention conditions.

Who Bears the Burden and How

DHS and ICE detention administrators must pay for covered communications, write anti-retaliation protocols, and ensure facilities provide the required free minutes and private calling spaces. DHS detention facilities must give written policies at arrival, make policies publicly available, maintain auditory privacy for protected calls, and avoid monitoring or recording privileged and oversight communications. ICE detention contractors must absorb operational changes for phone systems, call accounting, time-place-manner rules, and exceptions for legal and oversight communications. Federal taxpayers bear the cost of federally funded telephone access for detainees.

Key Provisions

• Requires at least one 10-minute family notification call during the first five hours of DHS custody and after transfer to a new location.
• Provides at least 200 free outgoing minutes each month for covered family communications.
• Requires private access to legal counsel, potential counsel, consular officials, detention-condition investigators, DHS oversight offices, courts, UNHCR, and ICE intake channels.
• Prohibits retaliation, dissuasion, attorney-minute caps, automatic cutoffs for protected communications, monitoring, and recording of covered private calls.
• Allows detention facilities to set consistent time, place, and manner policies only within the bill's privacy and access restrictions.