Findings and purpose

(a) Findings Congress finds as follows: (1) The United States detains over 70,000 individuals in immigration detention facilities at any given time—the highest number in at least two decades—in facilities operated both directly by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and by private contractors under Federal contract. (2) Nearly 50 individuals have died in ICE custody since the start of 2025, the highest death toll in at least twenty years, raising urgent concerns about the adequacy of medical care and conditions of confinement across the Federal detention system. (3) Credible reports from detainees, attorneys, and elected officials at Delaney Hall detention center in Newark, New Jersey—a privately operated, 1,000-bed facility run by GEO Group under Federal contract—have documented overcrowding, spoiled food, lack of medical access, and inadequate sanitation, resulting in a hunger and labor strike by approximately 300 detainees in May 2026. (4) New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill, exercising her responsibility as the chief executive of the State of New Jersey to protect the health and welfare of individuals within her state’s borders, sought to conduct an in-person oversight visit of Delaney Hall on May 25, 2026, and was denied entry. The Governor stated that the denial of access itself was evidence of serious concern about conditions inside the facility. (5) Governors, as the chief executives of the states in which detention facilities are sited, bear direct public health responsibilities for their residents and have a constitutional and civic interest in ensuring that facilities within their states meet basic health and safety standards. (6) Governors are uniquely well-positioned to conduct independent, on-the-ground health and safety oversight and to communicate findings directly to Congress, supplementing—and where necessary, compensating for gaps in—existing Federal inspection programs. (b) Purpose The purpose of this Act is solely to authorize health and safety oversight—not to grant Governors any authority to interfere with Federal immigration enforcement operations, detainee custody determinations, or removal proceedings.