(The Center Square) – Federal immigration agents could be sued for wrongdoing under a bill filed by New York Congressman Dan Goldman and other Democrats, which would strip ICE officers of their legal protections.
The legislation, called the ICE OUT Act, would eliminate “qualified immunity” for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and for U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents while on the job. If passed, officers who are deemed to have used excessive force during arrests can be sued by individuals and advocacy groups.
Goldman filed the bill Rep. Eric Swallwell, D-Calif. The U.S. House of Representatives is majority Republican, and second-term Republican President Donald Trump is in the White House – making context that the bill has an uphill road to travel.
The bill is the latest by congressional Democrats seeking to limit ICE’s enforcement operations. It comes amid national debate over whether ICE officers should face prosecution for the fatal shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, where federal authorities have made more than 3,000 arrests of “criminal aliens” facing deportation in a major sweep of the city.
Goldman, a two-term Democrat seeking another term in November, blasted the Department of Homeland Security’s operations in Minnesota and elsewhere as an “authoritarian immigration dragnet.” He said ICE agents “must be held accountable when they illegally use excessive force and victims must be able to get justice.”
“An out-of-control, untrained, secret ICE paramilitary is beating and killing Americans all around the country without any accountability from this administration,” Goldman said in a statement. “To ensure there is some accountability, we must end the current qualified immunity standard for ICE and CBP agents.”
A federal database of shooting deaths by ICE or CBP does not exist. Published reports dating more than 10 years back indicate it happens; for example, from 2015-2021, a report says 23 died in 59 incidents.
Federal law enforcement officers have extensive legal protections when acting in the scope of their official duties, but Goldman’s proposal would narrow that definition. It would also codify the so-called Bivens doctrine allowing individuals to sue federal officers when their constitutional rights have been violated.
Goldman said a court precedent granting qualified immunity to federal agents is “making it difficult for victims to bring ICE officers to trial and to seek justice for violations of their rights.” He said the bill would create an “enforceable guardrail” around ICE’s conduct and “make it clear to ICE agents that they can no longer arbitrarily use excessive force without expecting to face consequences.”
Republican lawmakers have largely sided with the aggressive tactics being used by the Trump administration to enforce immigration laws. Other Democrats have filed similar bills to strip ICE agents of qualified immunity or defund the federal agency. None have advanced.
Last week, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul filed a bill that would sharply limit state and local law enforcement cooperation with ICE by prohibiting the federal agency from deputizing local police to help detain people illegally in the country. In her State of the State address, Hochul also said she would support a state law allowing federal authorities to be sued for violating peoples’ civil rights.
