Sponsors (20)
The bill strengthens civil‑liberties protections by preventing detention based solely on protected characteristics and increases accountability for federal detention practices, at the cost of higher litigation/compliance burdens and added uncertainty or operational constraints for law enforcement and immigration/national‑security actions.
People from protected groups (racial and ethnic minorities, LGBTQ people including transgender individuals, and people with disabilities) are barred from being detained solely because of those characteristics.
Federal detention practices must be more accountable: the Department of Justice, Bureau of Prisons, and U.S. Marshals face clearer limits on arbitrary or discriminatory detention.
Taxpayers and federal law enforcement may face more litigation and compliance costs as detainees bring claims alleging unlawful or discriminatory detention.
Law enforcement and federal personnel may face uncertainty about enforcement scope because the Attorney General can add protected characteristics, creating a transition period until guidance is issued.
Some national-security and immigration detention decisions could be contested under the new protections, potentially complicating operational discretion during investigations and removals.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Adds a definition of "protected characteristic" to 18 U.S.C. §4001 and bars detention solely based on those characteristics; AG may add but not remove listed traits.
Official title: Ensure due process protections of individuals in the United States against unlawful detention based solely on a protected characteristic.
Introduced February 19, 2025 by Tammy Duckworth · Last progress February 19, 2025
Prohibits imprisoning or otherwise detaining anyone solely because of a listed "protected characteristic" (race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, or any additional characteristic the Attorney General designates). It adds that those enumerated characteristics cannot be removed by the Attorney General and amends the federal detention statute to codify this protection.