Sponsors (16)
The bill protects the Everglades and increases oversight and transparency of detention operations, but it limits local siting options and can shift detention burdens—potentially increasing travel barriers for detainees and creating added operational and administrative costs.
Immigrants who might otherwise be detained are prevented from being held in facilities inside or adjacent to the Everglades, reducing exposure to remote, ecologically sensitive, and disaster-prone sites.
Communities and the Everglades ecosystem benefit from required ecological and disaster-risk assessments that discourage construction in vulnerable wetlands and reduce risks from flooding and hurricanes.
Members of Congress and designated staff gain expanded authority for announced and unannounced inspections of DHS detention facilities, strengthening legislative oversight and accountability.
State and local governments and contractors lose the option to site detention capacity inside or adjacent to the Everglades, which may complicate local detention planning and reduce available locations for detention facilities.
Immigrants and their families (and attorneys) may face longer travel distances and reduced in-person contact if detention capacity shifts away from the Everglades region, making visits and legal access harder.
Expanded unannounced congressional access could increase security and operational burdens on facility operators and staff, requiring new protocols and potentially raising costs or staffing needs.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Bars DHS from funding or contracting for immigration detention facilities in or adjacent to the Everglades, requires congressional inspection access, and mandates a DHS IG report within 90 days.
Official title: To prohibit the operation and funding of an immigration detention facility in the Everglades, and for other purposes.
Introduced July 17, 2025 by Debbie Wasserman Schultz · Last progress July 17, 2025
Prohibits the Department of Homeland Security (including ICE) from using funds to plan, build, lease, operate, staff, maintain, or contract for any immigration detention facility located within or adjacent to the Everglades ecosystem (including Big Cypress, Everglades National Park, Water Conservation Areas, and adjacent wetlands). It also requires DHS detention sites to allow announced or unannounced congressional inspections consistent with safety protocols and prevents contracts from limiting that access. The DHS Inspector General must complete an independent inquiry and report to specified congressional committees within 90 days assessing funding, decision-making, compliance with detention standards, complaints, and ecological and disaster-safety risks, and provide briefings to those committees. The bill focuses on protecting the Everglades ecosystem from immigration detention infrastructure, increasing congressional oversight access to DHS detention facilities, and demanding a rapid IG review of past and planned detention-related activities and risks.