Secret gang lists could trigger deportation without full disclosure

What it does

This bill amends immigration law to make aliens associated with criminal gangs deportable and inadmissible. It defines a criminal gang as a group of 5+ people engaged in serious crimes (drug trafficking, firearms offenses, violence, human trafficking, fraud, etc.), and allows the Department of Homeland Security to designate organizations as criminal gangs. Anyone found to be a gang member, or to have aided or conspired with a gang, becomes subject to mandatory detention and deportation, with no eligibility for asylum, temporary protected status, parole, or other immigration relief except in narrow law-enforcement cooperation cases.

Why we flagged it

The bill's core function is to expand grounds for deportation and inadmissibility of aliens associated with criminal gangs, create an administrative gang-designation process, and strip discretionary relief. It is a public-safety measure, not a private giveaway, but one with significant procedural and definitional complexity.

What the text implies

• The bill allows DHS to designate a group as a criminal gang based partly on classified information that the designated group cannot see or challenge in court until after designation takes effect. This creates an asymmetric burden of proof: the government can use secret evidence, but the group must prove it is not a gang using only public information.
• The definition of 'criminal gang' includes any group of 5+ people engaged in a 'continuing series' of qualifying offenses within the past 5 years. A person can be deportable for 'aiding or participating' in gang activities even if they committed no crime themselves—mere association or conspiracy suffices.
• Once designated, an alien loses eligibility for asylum, temporary protected status, parole, and 'any other relief under the immigration laws.' This is a blanket bar that applies even if the alien's own conduct was peripheral, non-violent, or years in the past.
• The bill applies retroactively to conduct occurring before enactment. An alien can be deported for gang association based on conduct that predates the law's passage and was not illegal under prior immigration law.
• Judicial review is limited to the administrative record and classified information (reviewed ex parte). Courts cannot overturn a designation unless it is arbitrary, capricious, or lacks substantial support—a high bar. The pendency of judicial review does not stop deportation.

Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.

Who it affects

The bill addresses a legitimate public-safety concern—criminal gang activity—by expanding deportation grounds for aliens engaged in serious crimes. However, the mechanism creates significant due-process risks: the gang designation process relies partly on classified information that cannot be disclosed to the accused, the definition of 'criminal gang' is broad and can capture individuals based on association rather than personal conduct, and the bill strips all discretionary relief (asylum, TPS,

Named in the bill

Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Attorney General, Immigration and Nationality Act, Controlled Substances Act, Title 18 USC (federal crimes), US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, House Committee on the Judiciary, Senate Committee on the Judiciary

Where it stands

27 cosponsors: 27 Republicans.

• Jan 3, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
• Jan 3, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on the Judiciary · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary”
• Jun 3, 2026 — Markup held in committee · Congress.gov: “Committee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held”
• Jun 3, 2026 — Reported out of committee · Congress.gov: “Ordered to be Reported (Amended) by the Yeas and Nays: 15 - 8”

Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.

Money around this bill

1 lobbying clients named this bill on 1 disclosure filings across 1 quarter, Jun 2026 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $110,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 13 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.

More lobbying clients named this bill than 0% of bills with at least one filing.

Tom McClintock, the sponsor, reported $165,376 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.

• Kids in Need of Defense — $110,000 on 1 filing

Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 20, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.