Advocates say bill’s ‘imminent danger’ exception remains undefined
Senators Dick Durbin of Illinois and Alex Padilla of California introduced the Immigration Warrant Reform Act, which would require ICE officers to obtain an administrative warrant from a supervisor outlining probable cause before detaining anyone. The warrant must be presented to the person detained, alongside notice of their immigration court date. The bill would also require a bond hearing within 24 hours of any warrantless arrest and custody review of every noncitizen in immigration detention every 60 days.
Durbin and Padilla said they are introducing the legislation to prevent unlawful arrests and detentions following reports that U.S. citizens and immigrants with legal status had been apprehended. By clarifying how and when ICE can make arrests and detain individuals, the senators said, they also hope to stop the agency from racial profiling or detaining people for arbitrary reasons.
“This bill would establish stronger accountability and oversight,” Padilla said, referring to Americans and noncitizens alike.
Durbin described the current enforcement environment in starker terms. “The disturbing reality today is that many American citizens and immigrants with lawful status have been caught in the Trump administration’s indiscriminate and violent immigration enforcement dragnet across the country,” Durbin said. He called the legislation “commonsense” and added, “I encourage my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support it.”
Durbin said he was compelled to act after observing civil rights abuses during Operation Midway Blitz, the Trump administration’s militarized immigration raid in Chicago last fall and winter.
With Republicans holding majorities in both the Senate and House, the bill faces an uphill path to enactment. Durbin nonetheless framed the legislation as a response to documented harms and pressed for bipartisan support.
Immigration advocates and attorneys who reviewed the legislation raised concerns. Faisal Al-Juburi, co-chief executive of Raíces, a Texas-based humanitarian aid and immigration services nonprofit, said the bill does not adequately address what he described as the administration’s pattern of using national security claims against immigrants.
“The framework neglects how the current administration routinely weaponizes unsubstantiated national security allegations to advance its anti-immigrant agenda,” Al-Juburi said.
Al-Juburi also questioned whether civil immigration violations should result in detention at all. “My concern here is that this approach fails to reject the inhumane notion that people should face detention, and loss of liberty, for non-criminal matters,” he said.
The proposed law contains an exception that permits warrantless arrests when someone poses an “imminent danger to the community.” The legislation does not define what that means. The Trump administration has publicly claimed that Venezuelan asylum seekers without criminal records pose a national security threat and has characterized families with temporary legal status who have lived in the U.S. for years as dangerous criminals.
Advocates said it remained unclear how the bill would hold ICE accountable for violating its standards.
Durbin’s office defended the legislation, saying it would codify constitutional safeguards by requiring immigration agents to prove probable cause for detention and by requiring release within 24 hours if that standard is not met. The bill would also force the government to justify its reasoning for continued detention through the 60-day review requirement, according to Durbin.
The bill would “help prevent these due process violations while ensuring noncitizens who present a threat to public safety are not released,” Durbin said.