HEART Act of 2026
Sponsored By: Representative Rivas, Luz M. [D-CA-29]
Introduced
Summary
Office of Immigrant Community Mental Health and Resilience created inside HHS to coordinate and fund trauma‑informed mental health care for people facing fear‑based trauma tied to immigration enforcement. The office focuses on grants, mobile response teams, emergency counseling vouchers, data reporting, and guidance on Medicaid flexibilities.
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- Impacted families: Grants fund trauma‑informed care such as crisis counseling, short‑term therapy, emergency counseling vouchers, and mobile mental health teams. The Office will run multilingual "know your rights" campaigns and provide trauma‑informed family stabilization services.
- States, local governments, and community groups: A reporting process lets them flag immigration enforcement actions so the Office can direct resources where needed. The Office will publish an annual report to Congress on public health impacts, advise States on Medicaid flexibilities, and will not share collected data with the Department of Homeland Security or other enforcement agencies.
- Health workforce, providers, and schools: The Director can help hire culturally competent behavioral health specialists and train providers to treat fear‑based trauma. The Office will support integrating multilingual, trauma‑informed mental health and substance use services with local educational agencies and schools where feasible.
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Bill Overview
Analyzed Economic Effects
5 provisions identified: 5 benefits, 0 costs, 0 mixed.
Grants for community mental health
If enacted, the bill would require HHS to make grants to eligible entities serving communities affected by federal immigration enforcement. Eligible recipients would include States and local governments, health centers, rural clinics, Tribal health organizations, local schools, faith-based groups that provide services, and community groups. Grants would pay for trauma-informed mental health care, crisis counseling and short-term therapy, substance use recovery services, mobile response teams, and multilingual "know your rights" outreach and school-based integration as feasible.
New immigrant mental health office
If enacted, the bill would create an Office of Immigrant Community Mental Health and Resilience inside HHS. The Office would be led by a Director appointed by the Secretary. It would set up mobile mental health response teams, emergency counseling vouchers, workforce training, and public awareness and "know your rights" campaigns. The Office would also collect reports from States and local groups to guide support and give States guidance on Medicaid flexibilities.
Transfer money to HHS programs
If enacted, the bill would allow sums from sections 90003, 100051, and 100052 of Public Law 119-21 to be transferred to the HHS Secretary to carry out this Act. Any sums transferred would remain available until expended. The authority would let HHS use existing appropriations to stand up the Office and grant program.
Definitions for program terms
If enacted, the bill would define key terms used by the Office and grant program. "Behavioral health specialist" would include psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, counselors, and peer support specialists, among others. "Impacted community" would mean a local area that shows a federal immigration law enforcement action happened there. It would also adopt the existing statutory meaning of "medically underserved community."
No data sharing with immigration agencies
If enacted, the bill would prohibit the Office from sharing any data, actions, or information it collects with the Department of Homeland Security or any other federal agency that takes immigration enforcement actions. The restriction would apply to Office-collected information and aim to protect privacy. This could make affected people more willing to seek services.
Sponsors & CoSponsors
Sponsor
Rivas, Luz M. [D-CA-29]
CA • D
Cosponsors
Rep. García, Jesús G. "Chuy" [D-IL-4]
IL • D
Sponsored 6/18/2026
Rep. Cisneros, Gilbert Ray [D-CA-31]
CA • D
Sponsored 6/18/2026
Roll Call Votes
No roll call votes available for this bill.
View on Congress.gov