Sponsors (13)
The bill provides stronger due-process and election-period protections for immigrants by limiting certain enforcement actions near federal elections, while creating temporary delays in removals and additional burdens and liability risks for immigration authorities that could affect enforcement capacity and public-safety outcomes.
Immigrants face fewer enforcement or removal actions in the four weeks before a federal election, reducing fear of targeted pre-election sweeps.
Immigrants and law enforcement must meet particularized criminal probable cause before enforcement during the covered period, strengthening due-process protections for individuals at a sensitive time.
Law enforcement may still carry out urgent operations to prevent imminent death or serious bodily injury despite the enforcement restriction, preserving public safety in emergency situations.
Taxpayers and local communities could see temporary delays in removing removable noncitizens — including those who may pose public-safety risks — for four weeks around elections.
Immigration authorities will incur added compliance and operational burdens to document particularized probable cause, which could slow investigations and case processing.
Treating immigration officers as covered actors under 18 U.S.C. §593 may increase criminal or prosecutorial risk for officers, potentially reducing morale and complicating recruitment and retention.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Prohibits immigration enforcement or removals during the four weeks before a federal election, except for operations based on particularized criminal probable cause or to prevent imminent serious harm, and adds immigration officers to 18 U.S.C. §593.
Introduced February 20, 2026 by John B. Larson · Last progress February 20, 2026
Prohibits immigration enforcement or removal operations during the four weeks before a federal election, with narrow exceptions for operations based on particularized criminal probable cause tied to a specific individual or those needed to prevent imminent death or serious bodily injury. The bill also amends 18 U.S.C. §593 to explicitly include immigration officers among the covered actors. The measure does not provide new funding and does not specify an effective date in the text provided.