The Restoring Access for Detainees Act would provide free telephone and electronic communication services to immigrants held in Department of Homeland Security custody, with the goal of helping them contact lawyers and maintain family connections. Detainees would receive at least one 10-minute call to family within their first 5 hours in custody and again upon arriving at new locations, plus a minimum of 200 free minutes per month for outgoing calls to family and other contacts. The bill also guarantees unlimited free communication with legal representatives, immigration courts, and government oversight offices, with strict confidentiality protections preventing monitoring or recording of attorney-client communications. The legislation uses funding that Congress recently appropriated to DHS to restore a free phone program that operated during the COVID-19 pandemic but was discontinued in 2024 due to lack of funding. Detention facilities would be permitted to set reasonable time and location rules for calls but cannot limit the duration of attorney communications or prevent detainees from making paid calls at their own expense.
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