What Happened: Last week a House Democrat from New Mexico put forward legislation designed to simplify the process for U.S. citizens who wish to sue immigration agents and the federal government following improper detentions or arrests.

Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández pointed to ProPublica reporting as the driving force behind the Justice for Citizens Wrongfully Detained by ICE Act. Our recent investigation documented more than 500 American citizens taken into custody through warrantless arrests during the second Trump administration.

The measure would limit current legal protections that shield agents and the government from litigation. It would set a baseline compensation amount for successful plaintiffs and lengthen the time period allowed for filing such claims.

The bill would also reclaim unused Immigration and Customs Enforcement funds tied to President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman, a New Jersey Democrat, joined as co-sponsor.

Why It Matters: Filing civil claims against federal officers for improper arrests or excessive force remains challenging, as does pursuing state-level charges by local prosecutors. Officers often invoke immunity in civil matters or state prosecutions and can transfer cases to federal court.

Current rules permit suits against immigration agents only in limited situations, and earlier Democratic efforts to broaden those rules have failed.

Some local prosecutors have launched probes into wrongful citizen arrests or brought charges against federal agents involved in immigration enforcement incidents.

What They Said: Leger Fernández told ProPublica that accountability would not only remedy past errors but could also prevent 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.

Absent new laws, she added, agents “will continue to violate the law, to violate their own policy, and to violate the Constitution without any consequences.”

The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, responded to questions about the bill by repeating assertions that it does not detain U.S. citizens and described its operations as “highly targeted.”

Background: The federal government maintains there is no pattern of immigration agents detaining citizens, yet ProPublica’s tally shows more than 100 citizens were held after agents questioned their citizenship status. At least 70 children and teens were also detained.

Following our prior investigation that identified more than 170 citizens held by immigration agents, congressional Democrats last year began a broad inquiry into such detentions.