Bill blocks ICE from mining disaster relief data without a warrant
H.R. 10894 — Disaster Data Protection Act · Filed by Brittany Pettersen (D-CO) · 1 cosponsor · Introduced Oct 22, 2026 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill prohibits the Department of Homeland Security's Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from using federal funds to obtain personal information that disaster relief organizations collect from people during natural disasters—unless ICE first gets a judicial warrant. The bill protects disaster victims from having their data harvested by immigration enforcement without their knowledge or consent.
Why we flagged it
The bill's operative mechanism is a straightforward privacy safeguard: it blocks warrantless data access by a federal enforcement agency and requires judicial process. This is a civil-liberties restraint on government power, not a market intervention or appropriation.
What the text implies
- Establishes a precedent that disaster relief data is not automatically available to immigration enforcement, potentially affecting ICE's ability to locate undocumented immigrants during crisis response.
- May incentivize disaster NGOs to strengthen data security practices, knowing they have legal protection against warrantless federal access.
- Warrant requirement creates a paper trail and judicial check on ICE data requests, increasing transparency and accountability for immigration enforcement during disasters.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
Ordinary people affected by natural disasters gain explicit protection against warrantless immigration enforcement data harvesting. The warrant requirement ensures judicial oversight before ICE can access sensitive personal information collected in crisis contexts, where people are vulnerable and may not consent knowingly.
Named in the bill
Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Non-governmental entities (disaster relief organizations), Federal courts (warrant authority)
Where it stands
1 cosponsor: 1 Democrats.
- Oct 22, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Oct 22, 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.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (1,602 characters) on Oct 23, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,417 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 2026-10-24.
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