VotedBy VotedBy ⌕
Election Day · Tue, Nov 3See how your members of Congress voted →

S. 292 · 116th Congress

Keep Families Together Act

Key: what the circles and colors mean

Each circle is a bill. The ring fills as it moves through Congress:

IntroducedPassed one chamberPassed both chambersBecame law (gold)Resolution agreed to (full, dark)Failed or vetoed (gray)

Under the number: the Yea · Nay count of its final (or latest) recorded vote. On a member's page, the small badge is how that member voted: Y Yea / Aye, N Nay / No, P Present, – Not voting.

Gold and violet are only for Yea and Nay; they never mean a party. A member's party is the letter on their photo.

Never voted on. It didn't reach a floor vote before the 116th Congress ended, so it expired. A bill has to be introduced again to be considered in a new Congress.

DFD FeinsteinSponsor
41 cosponsors · 39 D, 2 I

This bill limits the separation of families at or near U.S. borders or ports of entry.

What it does: CRS summary · Introduced in Senate · Jan 31, 2019

Keep Families Together Act

This bill limits the separation of families at or near U.S. borders or ports of entry.

The Departments of Homeland Security (DHS), Justice, and Health and Human Services shall not separate a child from a parent or legal guardian at a port of entry or within 100 miles of a U.S. border unless

  • a state court terminates the parent or legal guardian's rights;
  • a state child welfare agency or court determines it is in the child's best interests to be removed; or
  • the child is determined to be a trafficking victim or at risk of becoming one, the accompanying adult is most likely not the parent or legal guardian, or the child is in danger of abuse or neglect.

An agency may not separate a child from a parent or legal guardian solely to deter migration into the United States or to promote compliance with immigration laws.

DHS shall develop (1) training related to the bill's family separation requirements, and (2) guidance for how parents and legal guardians may locate a separated child. DHS shall provide parents and legal guardians periodic status updates about a separated child.

The Government Accountability Office shall report to Congress on the criminal prosecution of asylum seekers.

Written by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service. All summary versions on Congress.gov

About this bill and sources

Official title: Keep Families Together Act

Latest action (Jan 31, 2019): Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary. (Sponsor introductory remarks on measure: CR S802-803)

Policy area: Immigration · Origin: Senate · Introduced: Jan 31, 2019

Official page on Congress.gov · Bill text (GovInfo) · Status record (XML)

No recorded floor vote found.