Sen. Kerry, D-Mass., is trying to revive guidelines he first proposed in May as an amendment to the failed immigration reform bill.
Critics had charged federal officials failed to sufficiently consider the impact on families during the Michael Bianco Inc. raid.
In a similar, standalone bill he filed Thursday, Sen. Kerry is calling for detainees to be held as close to home as possible and federal authorities to work with state social-service agencies.
"It's asking for a fairly sensible, common-sense approach to how you deal with groups of people in those kinds of situations," Sen. Kerry said in a telephone interview Friday.
The senator acknowledged his bill, like other immigration reform measures before it, faces an uphill battle in Congress.
Sen. Kerry has argued the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's handling of the Bianco raid was "inhumane" and "haphazard," separating parents from their children, and he has sought to create stronger standards.
Sen. Kerry said he has not changed his view of the raid. He contends immigration officials failed to adequately plan in advance, and he said his bill would set minimum standards of decency and a sensible approach to processing detainees.
"It's not punitive," Sen. Kerry said of his proposal. "It might be helpful to every party involved, and I think it is."
ICE would not comment on Sen. Kerry's proposal.
"We don't discuss pending legislation," ICE spokeswoman Paula Grenier said.
She contended federal immigration officials did act humanely. "ICE did take unprecedented steps to respect the rights of those we detained in the operation and their families," she said.
Sen. Kerry's bill, called the Families First Immigration Enforcement Act, would require ICE to use "safe and humane policies and procedures" in workplace immigration enforcement, the senator's office said.
The bill would require ICE to follow certain procedures:
Provide state social agencies access to screen and interview detainees.
Give agencies sufficient notice to arrange for representatives who speak the detainees' first language fluently.
Hold detainees within the jurisdiction of the local ICE field office to the extent space allows, rather than transport them hundreds of miles away, as happened with many Bianco employees.
Provide a toll-free number for families to use after a raid, to report their relationship to a detainee or obtain information.
Allow the aliens access to legal orientation presentations provided by independent agencies, in cases of raids where 50 or more are apprehended.
Set requirements regarding the release of detainees on humanitarian grounds, such as medical conditions.
Local immigrant advocates welcomed the proposed legislation.
Helena Marques, executive director of the Immigrants Assistance Center in New Bedford, said she supports the legislation because it would "eliminate the chaos" she believes occurred during the Bianco raid due to a lack of access to detainees.
"We knew during the raid that a lot of women in (the factory) had children," Ms. Marques said. "We knew they were being interviewed by ICE, and they were not going to mention the fact they have children out of fear of Immigration taking their children away. That is what created a lot of the chaos."
Corinn Williams of the Community Economic Development Center said there is a need for legislation to hold ICE accountable in regard to large-scale immigration raids.
"There was a lot going on during the Bianco raid that needs some further investigation and legislation to avoid this kind of tragedy that happened here in New Bedford," Ms. Williams said.
Given Congress' failure to pass immigration legislation, Sen. Kerry said he did not want to raise expectations too high about the prospects for his bill.
"I would look for opportunities to try to pass it, but there is an unhealthy mood in this Congress," Sen. Kerry said.
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