Padilla, Durbin Introduce Bill to Prevent Unlawful Immigration Arrests and Detentions

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Immigration Subcommittee, and U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, introduced new legislation to clarify existing requirements for immigration arrests and codify statutory procedures to prevent unlawful arrests and detentions. Immigration enforcement officers under this Administration have arbitrarily arrested U.S. citizens and immigrants with lawful status , including George Retes, Javier Ramirez, Andrea Velez, Wilmer Chavarria, and Dayanne Figueroa. “Republicans continued to write blank checks to ICE and CBP while serious concerns remain about officer and agent training, accountability, and the treatment of U.S. citizens,” said Senator Padilla . “Every person in America has civil rights — in spite of this Administration’s total disregard for the Constitution. This bill would establish stronger accountability and oversight, restore due process, and ensure federal immigration enforcement respects the rights and safety of Americans and noncitizens alike.” “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,” said Senator Durbin . “As Justice Sotomayor stated in her dissent in Noem v. Vasquez Perdomo , referring to immigration agents: ‘United States citizens are … being seized, taken from their jobs, and prevented from working to support themselves and their families.’ This must stop. The Immigration Warrant Reform Act will help prevent these due process violations while ensuring noncitizens who present a threat to public safety are not released. It is commonsense, and I encourage my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support it.” In a concurrence in Noem v. Vasquez Perdomo , Justice Kavanaugh relied on these gaps in immigration laws to find that immigration officers and agents may makestops based solely on apparent race and ethnicity, speaking Spanish or English with an accent,and presence at certain worksites, even if U.S. citizens get caught in the administration’s dragnet. The Trump Administration has gone beyond “stops” to arrest and even brutally attack U.S. citizens and immigrants without probable cause or a warrant for the arrest in indiscriminate enforcement actions. The Trump Administration has further interpreted immigrationlaws to require immigration judges to deny bond to any noncitizen who entered the United States withoutinspection, regardless of how long they have been in the country, and severely limit theopportunities for an immigration judge to release noncitizens on bond. Specifically, this legislation would bring immigration enforcement procedures in line with the standards that all law enforcement have to follow: Codifying specific criteria for warrantless civil immigration arrests in the interior of the United States: To limit the circumstances for warrantless arrest to those where a noncitizen presents an imminent danger to the community requiring immediate arrest, and is likely to escape before a warrant can be obtained; and To require a bond hearing within 24 hours of any warrantless arrest to determine whether the conditions above were met, and release the individual if they do not present a danger to the community; Codifying in statute criteria for obtaining an administrative warrant to arrest a noncitizen for civil immigration enforcement purposes, including by requiring immigration officers to: Document probable cause of an individual’s inadmissibility and removability under the Immigration and Nationality Act ; and Obtain approval for an administrative warrant from a supervisory immigration officer; Codifying in statute the requirement for periodic hearings in front of an immigration judge or federal judge for detained noncitizens; and Clarifying that mandatory detention provisions applicable at the border should not apply to immigrants in the interior of the United States. These changes would not allow for release of noncitizens who present a threat to public safety. In addition to Padilla and Durbin, the bill is cosponsored by Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Angus King (I-Maine), and Patty Murray (D-Wash.). Senator Padilla has been a leading voice in opposition to President Trump’s cruel and indiscriminate mass deportation agenda. Last month, Padilla demanded the Trump Administration abandon its reckless plan to equip ICE officers with gloves that deliver painful electric shocks. Last year, Padilla led 45 Congressional Democrats in urging DHS offices launch an investigation into the Department’s stops, arrests, detentions, and deportations of U.S. citizens. Full text of the bill is available here . ###