ICE must tell families and Congress when detainees die.
H.R. 10401 — No ICE Deaths in the Dark Act of 2026 · Filed by Shri Thanedar (D-MI) · 24 cosponsors · Introduced Sep 15, 2026 · Referred to committee
Your members of Congress
Enter a ZIP to see where your representative and both senators stood on this bill.
Looked up on this device — your ZIP is never stored on our servers.
What it does
ICE must notify families and Congress within 24 hours of a death in custody. ICE must also notify them within 30 days if someone dies after release due to detention. ICE must publish a notice within 48 hours and a full report within 30 days. ICE must review each death and save all evidence. ICE must send Congress a report every three months.
Who it affects
Immigrant detainees and their families gain the right to quick notification of deaths. Congress and the public can see records of ICE detainee deaths.
One thing to notice
The bill covers deaths after someone leaves ICE custody if detention caused the death. The bill requires ICE to keep all evidence and report on all deaths.
From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.
Where it stands
24 cosponsors: 24 Democrats.
- Sep 15, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Sep 15, 2026 — Referred to House Committee on the Judiciary · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Words to know
- ICE — U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the federal agency that detains immigrants.
- custody — When the government holds someone in jail or a detention center.
- detention — Being held by the government, usually while immigration cases are decided.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (11,384 characters) on Oct 3, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
As of — page rendered 2026-10-20.
“ICE must tell families and Congress when detainees die.” QuorumCivic. https://share.quorumcivic.app/bill/119/hr10401/simple Report an error
The week in bills
One email, Sunday: what Congress passed, what it changed, and who paid.
One link arrives to confirm the address. It is used for this email and nothing else, and every issue carries an unsubscribe link.