People can sue the government for wrongful holding by border agents.
H.R. 10826 — Justice for Citizens Wrongfully Detained by ICE Act · Filed by Teresa Leger Fernandez (D-NM) · 1 cosponsor · Introduced Oct 15, 2026 · Referred to committee
Your members of Congress
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What it does
The bill lets U.S. people sue if border agents or police held them without a warrant. It covers holds from January 20, 2025 onward. People who win get $500,000 plus $100,000 for each day held, plus lawyer fees. Agents cannot use qualified immunity to block the lawsuit. The government cannot use sovereign immunity as a defense. The bill takes back unspent money from a prior law about border enforcement.
Who it affects
U.S. people held by border agents or police without a warrant since January 20, 2025 can now sue. Border agents and the federal government face potential lawsuits and money payments.
One thing to notice
The bill only covers holds from January 20, 2025 onward. People held before that date cannot use this law.
From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.
Where it stands
1 cosponsor: 1 Democrats.
- Oct 15, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Oct 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
- qualified immunity — A legal shield that stops people from suing government workers for doing their job.
- sovereign immunity — A legal shield that stops people from suing the government without its permission.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (2,923 characters) on Oct 16, 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.
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