Sponsors (7)
The bill tightens and clarifies detention authority at ports of entry to enable faster custody decisions and reduce legal ambiguity, but does so by expanding mandatory detention—raising costs, straining border capacity, and restricting rights and access for noncitizens seeking protection.
Immigrants at ports of entry and immigration officers: clarifies detention authority so officers and the Attorney General can make faster custody decisions for applicants deemed inadmissible, potentially improving border security and speeding processing.
Federal immigration agencies and employees: clarifies statutory wording and punctuation to reduce legal ambiguity, which may lower litigation risk and shorten enforcement and administrative delays for DHS.
Noncitizens (including asylum seekers) at ports of entry: expanding mandatory detention will restrict liberty and can limit timely access to counsel and asylum procedures, harming people seeking protection.
Taxpayers and federal budgets: higher mandatory detention rates will increase government spending on detention operations, raising costs for taxpayers.
Border communities and DHS operations: expanded mandatory custody could strain DHS detention capacity and local resources, worsening conditions in border areas and increasing operational pressure on federal employees.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Explicitly makes applicants for admission subject to mandatory custody under the INA's mandatory-detention provision and clarifies related statutory wording.
Official title: Amend title II of the Immigration and Nationality Act to require mandatory detention of aliens who are physically present in the United States, but have not been admitted to the United States.
Introduced May 20, 2026 by Theodore Paul Budd · Last progress May 20, 2026
Changes to U.S. immigration law expand who is covered by mandatory detention. The bill amends wording in the Immigration and Nationality Act so that certain "applicants for admission" (people seeking entry at ports of entry or the border) are explicitly included among noncitizens the Attorney General "shall take into custody" under the statute that creates mandatory detention. The measure is a short, technical amendment: it revises phrasing in one admission provision and adds applicants for admission to the list of categories subject to mandatory custody, while making small punctuation edits to clarify clause connections.