Sponsors
The bill strengthens privacy, transparency, and taxpayer oversight of ICE biometric and surveillance practices and protects public recording of enforcement — but does so by pausing program operations and hiring in ways that may hinder enforcement capacity, risk losing investigatory data, create safety/operational challenges around public recording, and cause economic disruption for contractors and hires.
Immigrants: Limits ICE use of biometric/surveillance data collected while people exercise constitutional rights and creates notice, review, contest, and removal rights — increasing individual privacy protections and legal redress.
Members of the public and migrants: Protects the right to record or document immigration enforcement and prevents DHS from using federal funds to prohibit such recording (absent interference), increasing transparency and accountability of enforcement actions.
Taxpayers and oversight bodies: Requires disclosure of detailed costs and contracts for biometric databases, improving fiscal transparency and enabling better congressional and public oversight of DHS spending.
Law enforcement/public safety: Near-term ban on operating surveillance systems and pausing ICE hiring could reduce ICE's enforcement capacity and slow investigations.
Justice and investigations: Mandatory deletion of biometric/surveillance data collected since Jan 1, 2026 risks removing information relevant to ongoing investigations or national security matters unless preserved by Secretary rule.
Safety and operational security: Allowing public recording (and restricting DHS from using funds to limit it) can complicate operations, create bystander safety risks, and limit the agency's ability to protect victims or sensitive operational details.
Based on analysis of 3 sections of legislative text.
Bars DHS from spending on biometric/surveillance systems or hiring ICE staff until a required policy is issued, mandates recent data deletion unless rulemade, and protects people's right to record enforcement.
Introduced February 26, 2026 by Chellie Pingree · Last progress February 26, 2026
Bars the Department of Homeland Security from spending federal funds to operate biometric or other surveillance systems or to hire additional ICE officers until the department issues a detailed policy on use of biometric surveillance in immigration enforcement. Requires deletion of biometric data collected after Jan 1, 2026 unless the department issues the required policy by rule, and protects the public’s right to record or document immigration enforcement so long as the recording does not interfere with operations.