# Plain Language Summary: Immigrants' Mental Health Act of 2023

This bill creates a new focus on mental health support for immigrants arriving at the U.S. border and for the border agents who work there. Specifically, it requires the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP)—the agency that handles border security—to develop training programs that teach border agents how to recognize signs of mental health problems in arriving immigrants, especially trauma-related issues. The training would also teach agents how to respond to people in crisis using approaches that are sensitive to trauma. Additionally, border agents would receive mental health training for themselves, focusing on managing stress and understanding the psychological toll of their jobs.

The bill also requires that at least one mental health professional be assigned to every border facility—including border patrol stations, ports of entry, and detention centers. These professionals would need to be bilingual, trained in culturally appropriate care, and have expertise working with children, teenagers, or families. Their job would be to evaluate and address the mental health needs of both arriving immigrants and border staff. The bill sets aside funding to pay for these mental health experts and the training programs, starting with $50,000 in 2024 to develop the training, then $20,000 annually from 2025 through 2029 to run it.

Perhaps most importantly, the bill includes a privacy protection: mental health information that immigrants share with health professionals while in government custody cannot be shared with immigration authorities or used in deportation proceedings. This is meant to encourage immigrants to seek mental health help without fear that what they say will be used against them in immigration court.

Immigrants’ Mental Health Act of 2023

Napolitano, Grace F.

Immigrants' Mental Health Act of 2023 This bill directs Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to take steps to address mental health issues among immigrants and CBP agents and officers. It also restricts the sharing of mental health information for use in certain immigration proceedings. CBP shall develop training to enable its agents and officers to (1) identify mental health issues and risk factors in immigrants and refugees, (2) provide crisis intervention using a trauma-informed approach, and (3) better manage work-related stress and psychological pressures. CBP shall assign at least one qualified mental or behavioral health expert to each Border Patrol station, port of entry, checkpoint, forward operating base, secondary inspection area, and short-term custody facility. The Department of Health and Human Services may not provide to the Department of Homeland Security information about the mental health of an non-U.S. national (alien under federal law) that was obtained by a mental health professional while the individual was in federal government custody if the information will be used for (1) an asylum determination, (2) an immigration hearing, or (3) a deportation hearing.