Sponsors (2)
The bill centralizes and expands mandatory detention for certain assault-related immigration cases to boost coordination and immediate community safety, but at the cost of higher detention spending, potential due‑process infringements, and inconsistent application across jurisdictions.
Immigrants charged with assaulting law-enforcement officers will be detained rather than released, which increases the likelihood that communities and officers face fewer immediate threats from those individuals.
Detention authority is shifted to the Department of Homeland Security, centralizing custody decisions and potentially improving coordination between immigration enforcement and federal/local agencies.
Noncitizens deemed inadmissible for assault-related offenses will face mandatory detention, increasing federal and local detention costs and creating a larger taxpayer burden.
People who are charged or arrested—but not convicted—may be held for longer without individualized custody hearings, raising serious due-process and civil‑liberties concerns for immigrants.
The bill’s broader definition of "law enforcement officer" and reliance on varying state/municipal definitions of "assault" could produce uneven application across jurisdictions, creating legal uncertainty and disparate outcomes.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Introduced January 21, 2025 by Jefferson Van Drew · Last progress January 21, 2025
Amends the immigration detention statute to require the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) — instead of the Attorney General — to detain certain inadmissible noncitizens who are charged with, arrested for, convicted of, or admit to acts that constitute an assault on a law enforcement officer. It adds a new mandatory detention ground, defines what counts as an assault on a law enforcement officer (including assaults committed because of official duties or status), and directs DHS to issue detainers and take custody of such individuals promptly if they are not otherwise detained. The measure expands who is covered by the mandatory detention rule (to certain inadmissible aliens) and clarifies who counts as a law enforcement officer (including firefighters and other first responders) and how assault is determined (by the meaning in the jurisdiction where the acts occurred). No new funding or effective date is specified in the text provided.