1. Short title
This Act may be cited as the “Public Oversight of Detention Centers Act of 2019” or as the “POD Act of 2019”.
Public Oversight of Detention Centers Act of 2019
A BILL
To prohibit any limitation on the entry of a Member of Congress to any facility for the detention of aliens, and for other purposes.
2. Congressional oversight of detention facilities
Prohibition on limitations on oversight of detention facilities— Chapter 4 of title II of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following:
“244A. Prohibition on limitations on oversight of detention facilities
“(a) In general—A Member of Congress may not be prevented from entering by not later than 48 hours after making a request to do so, for the purpose of conducting oversight, any facility operated by or for the Department of Homeland Security (including any facility operated by a private contractor with the Department) used to detain or otherwise house aliens, or nor may any temporary modification be made at any such facility that in any way alters what is observed by a visiting Member of Congress, compared to what would be observed in the absence of such modification.
“(b) Facilities housing alien minors—A Member of Congress may not be prevented from entering by not later than 48 hours after making a request to do so, for the purpose of conducting oversight, any facility operated by or for the Department of Homeland Security or the Department of Health and Human Services (including any facility operated by a private contractor with either Department) used to detain or otherwise house alien minors, or to make any temporary modification at any such facility that in any way alters what is observed by a visiting Member of Congress, compared to what would be observed in the absence of such modification.”
Clerical amendment— The table of contents for such Act is amended by inserting after the item relating to section 244 the following: