Ensuring United Families at the Border Act
Key claim: HR61 would eliminate the Flores settlement agreement’s protections for detained migrant children, mandate family detention when adults are charged only with misdemeanor unlawful entry, and bar states from imposing licensing requirements on immigration detention facilities holding minors.
Abstract
(HR61 · 119th Congress) Ensuring United Families at the Border Act This bill addresses the treatment of children who are non-U.S. nationals ( aliens under federal law), including by statutorily establishing that there is no presumption that such a child (other than an unaccompanied child) should not be detained for immigration purposes. Specifically, the bill states that the detention of such minors shall be governed by specified sections of the Immigration and Nationality Act and not any other provision of law, judicial ruling, or settlement agreement. (A 1997 settlement agreement, commonly known as the Flores agreement, imposes requirements relating to the treatment of detained alien minors, including requiring such minors to be released or placed in a nonsecure facility after a certain amount of time in detention.) If an adult enters the United States unlawfully with their child, the Department of Homeland Security must detain the adult and child together if the only criminal charge against the adult is a misdemeanor for unlawful entry. This bill also prohibits states from imposing licensing requirements on immigration detention facilities used to detain minors or families with minors. Latest action (2025-01-03): Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.
Why this matters
The Flores settlement has been the primary judicial constraint on how the federal government detains migrant children since 1997, and statutorily displacing it would materially change conditions and length of detention for families. By also preempting state facility licensing, the bill removes a key independent oversight channel over the treatment of minors in federal custody, raising due-process and child-welfare questions that fall within this area’s scope.