Sponsors
The bill prioritizes faster identification, adjudication, and removal of convicted noncitizens and stronger federal–state enforcement coordination (backed by reporting mandates and financial incentives), at the cost of reduced due process protections, increased burdens and costs on local agencies and taxpayers, and likely community and family disruption—especially for immigrant communities.
Noncitizens convicted of felonies or removable offenses (including some misdemeanors) will be identified and processed faster, speeding removals and reducing the time convicted noncitizens remain in the community.
State and local agencies get a standardized reporting process and federal integration plus financial incentives (grants and preservation of Highway Trust Fund apportionments) to cooperate with DHS, simplifying information sharing and encouraging coordination.
Shorter statutory deadlines and expedited adjudication for criminal removal cases reduce immigration-court backlog and can lower administrative, detention, and litigation costs by forcing faster decisions.
Noncitizens (including those with minor or older convictions) face accelerated removal and reduced hearing protections, increasing the risk of erroneous or retroactive deportations and undermining due process and privacy protections.
Faster removals and stricter rules will disrupt families and communities—separating parents and dependents, increasing social-service needs, and reducing immigrant communities' willingness to report crimes or access services.
Expanded expedited removal authority and compressed deadlines reduce oversight and judicial review, risk lower-quality appeals and procedural errors, and may generate more litigation as courts and agencies adapt.
Based on analysis of 6 sections of legislative text.
Mandates 24-hour reporting of noncitizen convictions to DHS, expands expedited removal to any felony or two misdemeanors (retroactive), speeds immigration-court timelines, and penalizes/awards jurisdictions based on cooperation.
Introduced January 14, 2026 by Thomas Bryant Cotton · Last progress January 14, 2026
Requires courts and state/local law enforcement to report every criminal conviction of a non‑U.S. citizen to DHS within 24 hours using federal database connections; directs DHS to open removal proceedings or issue detainers when the conviction makes the person removable. Expands expedited removal to cover any noncitizen convicted of a felony or two misdemeanors (and makes that expansion retroactive), shortens appeal and decision deadlines in immigration courts for criminal removal cases, creates a $150 million/year grant program (starting FY2026) for jurisdictions that fully cooperate with federal immigration enforcement, and withholds 15% of Highway Trust Fund apportionments from places labeled as "sanctuary jurisdictions" unless they certify compliance or successfully appeal for undue hardship.