What Happened: A New Mexico Democrat in the House introduced a bill last week that would make it easier for U.S. citizens to sue immigration agents and the federal government over wrongful detentions and arrests.
Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández credited ProPublica’s reporting as the catalyst for the bill, the Justice for Citizens Wrongfully Detained by ICE Act. Earlier this month, we revealed that more than 500 U.S. citizens have been detained in warrantless arrests during the second Trump administration.
Leger Fernández said the legislation would roll back the protections from lawsuits that agents and the federal government currently have. It would also establish a minimum level of compensation for people who win their suits, and extend the statute of limitations for such cases.
The legislation would also take back any unspent Immigration and Customs Enforcement funding from President Donald Trump’s so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
Leger Fernández’s bill was introduced with co-sponsor Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman, a New Jersey Democrat.
Why It Matters: It can be difficult to sue federal officers for wrongful arrests or excessive force, or for local prosecutors to bring charges. Federal agents can claim immunity in response to civil lawsuits or to state charges and can move their cases to federal court.
People who accuse immigration agents of wrongdoing can currently only sue in a narrow set of circumstances, and previous Democratic bills aiming to change that have not passed.
Some local prosecutors have announced investigations into the wrongful arrests of U.S. citizens or prosecuted federal agents accused of wrongdoing during immigration enforcement actions.
What They Said: In an interview with ProPublica, Leger Fernández emphasized that accountability could not only address past wrongs, it may also help head them off in the future. “We know that when there are consequences, bad actors start behaving better because they don’t want to face those consequences,” she said.
Without legislation, Leger Fernández said, agents “will continue to violate the law, to violate their own policy, and to violate the Constitution without any consequences.”
Asked about the legislation, the Department of Homeland Security, ICE’s parent agency, repeated claims that it is not arresting U.S. citizens and defended its immigration operations as “highly targeted.”
Background: The federal government denies that there is any pattern of immigration agents detaining U.S. citizens, but according to ProPublica’s count, more than 100 citizens were held after agents questioned their citizenship. At least 70 children and teens were also detained.
Last year, congressional Democrats announced a wide-ranging investigation into immigration agents’ detention of U.S. citizens after our earlier investigation found that more than 170 citizens were detained by immigration agents.
