ProPublica count found over 500 U.S. citizens detained in warrantless arrests
Democrats introduce bill easing lawsuits for U.S. citizens detained by ICE
Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez, a New Mexico Democrat, introduced the Justice for Citizens Wrongfully Detained by ICE Act in the House last week, a bill that would make it easier for U.S. citizens to sue immigration agents and the federal government over wrongful detentions and arrests. Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman, a New Jersey Democrat, is the bill’s co-sponsor.
Leger Fernandez credited ProPublica’s reporting as the catalyst for the bill. Earlier this month, ProPublica revealed that more than 500 U.S. citizens have been detained in warrantless arrests during the second Trump administration.
In an interview with ProPublica, Leger Fernandez said the legislation would roll back the protections from lawsuits that agents and the federal government currently hold. 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 reclaim any unspent Immigration and Customs Enforcement funding from President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
The bill’s introduction comes against a legal backdrop in which it is 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 aimed at changing that have not passed.
Some local prosecutors have announced investigations into the wrongful arrests of U.S. citizens or have prosecuted federal agents accused of wrongdoing during immigration enforcement actions.
Leger Fernandez emphasized that accountability could address past wrongs and may also deter future ones. “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 Fernandez 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 its claims that it is not arresting U.S. citizens and defended its immigration operations as “highly targeted.”
The federal government denies any pattern of immigration agents detaining U.S. citizens, but ProPublica’s count found more than 100 citizens were held after agents questioned their citizenship. At least 70 children and teens were also detained, according to ProPublica.
Last year, congressional Democrats announced a wide-ranging investigation into immigration agents’ detention of U.S. citizens after ProPublica’s earlier investigation found that more than 170 citizens had been detained by immigration agents.