Sponsors (4)
The bill increases immigrant protections and local law-enforcement discretion by ending mandatory federal immigration detainers, but does so at the cost of reducing a federal tool for removing criminal noncitizens and shifting public-safety, coordination, and fiscal burdens onto local jurisdictions.
Immigrants: the bill ends federal mandatory detainers/holds, reducing automatic transfers into federal immigration custody and lowering the risk of prolonged detention for noncitizens.
State and local law enforcement: agencies can prioritize criminal public-safety duties without being required to hold people on federal immigration detainers, increasing local operational discretion.
Local and state governments: jurisdictions face reduced legal liability and lower litigation risk from honoring federal detainers (e.g., Fourth Amendment or due-process suits), potentially saving legal costs.
Taxpayers and local communities: federal immigration authorities lose a routine tool for identifying and taking custody of noncitizens charged with or convicted of crimes, which could reduce removals of criminal aliens and complicate public-safety outcomes.
Local communities and law enforcement: some criminal noncitizens may remain in local custody instead of being transferred to federal custody, which can increase perceived or actual local public-safety risks and strain local jails.
Local governments and taxpayers: the bill could shift detention, court, and administrative costs to local jurisdictions that expected transfers to federal custody, increasing local fiscal and operational burdens.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Bans federal immigration detainers and prevents DHS from conditioning intergovernmental agreements on detainer enforcement, removing statutory detainer authority.
Official title: To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to eliminate immigration detainers.
Introduced May 11, 2026 by Maxwell Frost · Last progress May 11, 2026
Removes federal authority to issue or enforce immigration detainers or holds and bars federal conditioning of intergovernmental agreements on detainer enforcement. The bill deletes specific statutory provisions that permit mandatory detention and detainer issuance, and adds an explicit prohibition preventing the Secretary of Homeland Security from issuing or enforcing any immigration detainer or hold against federal, state, or local law enforcement agencies by any means, including through intergovernmental service agreements.