HELP Separated Children Act

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office] [S. 4389 Introduced in Senate (IS)] <DOC> 119th CONGRESS 2d Session S. 4389 To protect children affected by immigration enforcement actions, and for other purposes. _______________________________________________________________________ IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES April 27, 2026 Ms. Smith (for herself, Ms. Baldwin, Mr. Bennet, Mr. Blumenthal, Ms. Cortez Masto, Ms. Duckworth, Mrs. Gillibrand, Ms. Hirono, Mr. Kaine, Mr. Kim, Ms. Klobuchar, Mr. Markey, Mrs. Murray, Ms. Rosen, Mr. Sanders, Ms. Warren, Mr. Welch, and Mr. Van Hollen) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary _______________________________________________________________________ A BILL To protect children affected by immigration enforcement actions, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. This Act may be cited as the ``Humane Enforcement and Legal Protections for Separated Children Act'' or ``HELP Separated Children Act''. SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. In this Act: (1) Apprehension.--The term ``apprehension'' means the detention or arrest by officials of the Department or cooperating entities. (2) Child.--The term ``child'' means an individual who is younger than 18 years of age. (3) Child welfare agency.--The term ``child welfare agency'' means a State or local agency responsible for child welfare services under subtitles B and E of title IV of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 601 et seq.). (4) Cooperating entity.--The term ``cooperating entity'' means a Federal, State or local entity acting under an agreement with the Secretary relating to immigration detention and apprehension. (5) Department.--The term ``Department'' means the Department of Homeland Security. (6) Detention facility.-- (A) In general.--The term ``detention facility'' means a Federa