# Plain Language Summary: Bipartisan Border Solutions Act of 2021

This bill creates a new system for processing people who arrive at the southern U.S. border without going through official immigration channels. The core idea is to establish at least four regional processing centers in high-traffic border areas where the Department of Homeland Security can handle the initial intake and screening of migrants in one centralized location, rather than spreading them across multiple facilities.

Here's what happens at these centers: When someone is apprehended at the border, they go through criminal background checks, identity verification, fingerprinting, medical screenings, and initial asylum interviews—all in the same place. The bill requires that these centers have doctors, nurses, social workers, mental health professionals, and child advocates on staff. People can be held there for up to 72 hours before being released or transferred elsewhere. The centers are also supposed to provide legal orientation programs so people understand their rights and what to expect in the immigration process. Importantly, detainees get access to lawyers and can make phone calls to legal representatives in private spaces.

The bill also includes several protections and accountability measures. It requires background checks for anyone who wants to take custody of unaccompanied children, creates penalties for fraud in child custody transfers, and mandates that immigration courts prioritize cases during periods of high migration. Additionally, the bill expands legal orientation programs and requires the Department of Homeland Security to develop procedures ensuring people can communicate confidentially with lawyers. The bill also allows nonprofits and humanitarian organizations to access these centers to provide legal assistance and humanitarian aid, and permits private donations of medical supplies, clothing, and other necessities for detainees.

Bipartisan Border Solutions Act of 2021

Cuellar, Henry

Bipartisan Border Solutions Act of 2021 This bill establishes regional processing centers for conducting immigration-related activities and addresses other related issues. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) shall establish at least four regional processing centers along the southern border in high-traffic Border Patrol sectors. These centers shall conduct processing activities such as criminal history checks, medical screenings, asylum interviews and credible fear determinations, and short-term detention of individuals. The bill imposes various requirements, such as requiring the centers to (1) allow nongovernmental entities access to detained individuals to provide humanitarian or legal assistance, and (2) provide detained aliens access to legal counsel for certain asylum proceedings. The bill also requires DHS and the Department of Justice (DOJ) to develop pilot programs to improve asylum decisions, credible fear determinations, access to counsel, and case management of aliens awaiting asylum hearings or decisions. DOJ shall, to the greatest extent practicable, prioritize removal cases involving aliens apprehended while entering the United States during an irregular migration influx. Before placing an unaccompanied alien child with an individual, the Department of Health and Human Services must conduct a criminal background check of each adult member of that individual's household. An alien child may not be placed in a household where an individual has been convicted of certain crimes, including offenses involving sex or domestic violence. The bill also makes it a crime to make a materially false statement or knowingly use a false document to obtain custody of an unaccompanied alien child.