Newly passed House bill would allow unaccompanied minors to be strip-searched and more
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On Wednesday, the U.S. House of Representatives passed HR 4371, also known as the Kayla Hamilton Act.
The official summary of the bill notes it would “require the Department of Health and Human Services to consider additional information when it makes placement determinations for unaccompanied alien children in its custody.”
Health and Human Services defines “unaccompanied alien children” as those under age 18 who have no “lawful” immigration status in the U.S. and who have no parent or legal guardian in the U.S. available to provide care or physical custody.
The legislation was introduced by Rep. Russell Fry (R-S.C.) in July and aimed at providing a way to “prevent tragedies like the murder of Kayla Hamilton,” Fry’s news release for the bill stated.
Hamilton was a 20-year-old woman living in Maryland who was sexually assaulted and killed by an undocumented Salvadoran, Walter Javier Martinez, then 16, in 2022. Martinez was convicted of first-degree murder in 2024 and sentenced to 70 years in prison.
Her death became a cause celebre for Republican politicians, who pointed to what they saw as the failings of the previous administration‘s immigration policies.
“The tragedy that took the life of Kayla Hamilton was a senseless and predictable consequence of President Biden’s wide-open border and dangerous, morally indefensible policies,” House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) wrote Wednesday on X after the bill passed. “The Kayla Hamilton Act puts an end to this madness so no future administration can make such reckless decisions.”
The bill passed by a vote of 225 to 201, with all 218 voting Republicans in favor as well as seven Democrats — including Texas Reps. Vicente Gonzalez and the recently pardoned Henry Cuellar. All 201 “no” votes were cast by Democrats.
While acknowledging the tragedy of Hamilton, detractors of the bill claim it’s leveraging this event to further let government agencies exert power over unaccompanied detained minors.
Sarah Mehta, the American Civil Liberties Union’s deputy director of policy and government affairs, spoke with The Times about what’s built into the legislation.
“It allows the authorities to prolong the detention of children who have family in the U.S. by prohibiting their release to parents and sponsors unless they are U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents,” she said.
Mehta noted that the bill skirts existing judicial structures to execute its proposed actions.
“It gives the secretary of the DHS, who is not a judge, the authority to declare a child as a flight risk and put them in a secure facility — meaning a prison — with no evidentiary standard or basis,” she said, referring to the Department of Homeland Security.
Mehta claimed the new act bypasses the Administrative Procedures Act — which ensures that a governmental body’s actions comply with applicable laws.
This “basically means the federal government can create new regulations related to the detention of vulnerable kids without any notice, so there’s no opportunity for medical experts or child welfare experts to weigh in,” she said.
Mehta sees HR 4371 as an extension of the current administration’s continued attack on vulnerable children.
“The government has tried to get National Guard troops and local police to identify unaccompanied kids,” she said. “There are hundreds of unaccompanied children in detention, including kids that were at home with their parents, with their loved ones and were put in detention, ostensibly to protect them, but really as part of a larger narrative of blaming the Biden administration for missing children, but also criminalizing and vilifying kids.”
Mehta added that the bill would subject children to invasive body searches so that authorities can determine whehter a child is a gang member based on tattoos or other markings.
“A lot of these children are victims of serious violence, including gang violence and sex trafficking,” Mehta said. “They are then put in the worst possible facilities with very limited access to lawyers, where they are away from family and trusted adults and don’t have access to quality medical care or other basic services.”
Immigration officials’ discretion on what qualifies as gang affiliation has long been questioned. In 2017, the ACLU sued the first Trump administration for failing to provide viable evidence that children who were seized by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and sent to detention centers had any actual ties to gangs abroad.
“This year, many who were tortured at CECOT [a prison in El Salvador] were sent there and identified as gang members purely based on having a tattoo — which often ended up being a mother’s name, a sports team or other completely benign tattoos,” Mehta said.
The ACLU’s 2017 case described the experience of one teen who was repeatedly approached by local police officers who claimed the scribbles in his notebook were gang-related. The teen was subsequently picked up by ICE and sent to several detention centers without officials providing hard evidence of gang affiliation.
“The idea that we can trust authorities to examine a child’s body, which itself is a traumatic event — especially for those children who have been sexually assaulted — and then decide based on an immigration official’s identification of a tattoo that children are gang members and should be locked away and subjected to prison detention is appalling and dangerous.”
The legislation will now go to the Senate.
Trump orders partial Venezuela blockade
On Tuesday, President Trump announced a blockade of all sanctioned oil tankers entering and leaving Venezuela.
This week, my colleagues Patrick J. McDonnell, Ana Ceballos and Kate Linthicum reported on the matter.
The blockade, which aims to cripple the key component of Venezuela’s faltering, oil-dependent economy, comes as the Trump administration has bolstered military forces in the Caribbean, blown up more than two dozen boats it alleges were ferrying illicit drugs in the Caribbean and the Pacific, and threatened military strikes on Venezuela and neighboring Colombia.
“Venezuela is completely surrounded by the largest Armada ever assembled in the History of South America,” Trump wrote Tuesday night on his social media site. “It will only get bigger, and the shock to them will be like nothing they have ever seen before.”
Trump also claimed Venezuela stole “oil, land and other assets” from the United States.
The Venezuelan government swiftly condemned the move as a “reckless and grave threat” in an official statement.
The letter further called Trump’s efforts an attempt to “rob the riches that belong to our people.”
Latin American leaders called for levelheaded decision making from all sides.
“Whatever one thinks about the Venezuelan government or the presidency of [Nicolás] Maduro, the position of Mexico should always be: No to intervention, no to foreign meddling,” Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said in Wednesday morning news conference.
Sheinbaum also called on the United Nations to facilitate a peaceful end to the matter and for there to be no bloodshed.
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said Thursday morning that he was very concerned about the situation and that he has spoken with Trump about it.
Lula has offered to assist in averting an armed conflict in Latin America.
“I am at the disposal of both Venezuela and the U.S. to contribute to a peaceful solution on our continent,” he said.
Last week, the U.S. seized a sanctioned oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela. The seizure was conducted by the U.S. Coast Guard and supported by the Navy, a U.S. official told the Associated Press.
Good Immigrant, Bad Immigrant: Going back to your birth country after obtaining a green card
A formerly undocumented artist reached out to other formerly undocumented friends for advice on how to emotionally prepare to return to the country he has not seen in three decades.
Julio Salgado is a visual artist based in Long Beach. His work has been displayed at the Oakland Museum, SFMOMA and Smithsonian American Art Museum. (@juliosalgado83)
Stories we read this week that we think you should read
Unless otherwise noted, all stories in this section are from the L.A. Times.
Immigration and the border
- She was in the process of getting a green card after three decades in the U.S. Then ICE arrested her
It ‘penetrates your bones’: Day laborers protest noise machines installed at Home Depot
‘I am afraid that I might die here’: ICE detainee fears ‘imminent death’ without lifesaving care, lawyers say
National Guard troops under Trump’s command leave L.A before court’s deadline
- Trump immigration raids take toll on child-care workers in California and nationwide (AP)
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How does a 3-year-old hire an immigration attorney?
Arts and Entertainment
- Joel Deleōn talks 10 years of CNCO — and finding his footing as a solo artist
Abraham Quintanilla, father of late Tejano singer Selena, dies at 86
- Cazzu announces 2026 U.S. tour, with stops in Southern California
- Melissa Barrera is ready for action
- Macario Martínez: Latin music’s feel-good story of the year
- Latinos continue to be underrepresented in streaming shows, new UCLA report finds
- How one L.A. immigrant’s quest spawned generations of Christmas tree sellers
De Los end-of-year lists:
- De Los Picks: 10 best albums by Latino artists in 2025
- De Los Picks: 20 best songs by Latino artists in 2025
Let us help you find the right gifts for the holidays:
- 10 experiences from Latino-owned businesses to gift this holiday season
