Sponsors (48)
The bill strengthens DHS authority and gives states a legal tool to force border-control actions—potentially improving immediate operational control—while risking denial of asylum protections, narrowing due process, and imposing fiscal and litigation costs.
Border communities, law enforcement, and the traveling public: Gives DHS clear authority to suspend entry for inadmissible noncitizens when it cannot detain or place them, which can reduce uncontrolled crossings and ease immediate operational strain at land and maritime ports.
State governments: Allows State attorneys general to sue the Secretary of DHS for failing to implement the required suspension, creating a legal remedy to compel federal enforcement actions.
Federal border operations, law enforcement, and DHS personnel: Clarifies key terms like 'operational control' and who is a covered alien, giving agencies clearer legal tools to prioritize and manage resources at ports of entry and along the border.
Immigrants, including asylum seekers: Enables sweeping suspension of entry for defined noncitizens, which can deny people access to screening, asylum, or legal entry at the border.
Immigrants and the immigration court process: Uses 'notwithstanding any other provision of law' language that risks curtailing statutory or regulatory protections (such as screening and asylum procedures), raising serious due-process and legal-challenge risks.
Taxpayers, DHS, and state budgets: Expands enforcement powers and creates potential for increased litigation and operational shifts, which could raise costs for federal and state governments.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Allows DHS to suspend or bar entry of certain inadmissible noncitizens at land and maritime borders and lets state attorneys general sue for injunctions if required suspensions aren't carried out.
Introduced January 9, 2025 by Charles Roy · Last progress January 9, 2025
Authorizes the Secretary of Homeland Security to temporarily suspend or bar entry of certain noncitizens at U.S. land and maritime borders when needed to achieve operational control or whenever the Department cannot detain them or place them in specified processing programs. It also gives state attorneys general a federal-court right to seek injunctions if the Secretary fails to carry out a required suspension. The bill defines which noncitizens are covered (those inadmissible for lack of proper entry documentation) and adopts an existing statutory definition of "operational control." It does not appropriate funds or specify an effective date.