Congress locks military out of immigration enforcement
H.R. 5604 — National Guard Proper Use Act · Filed by Andrea Salinas (D-OR) · 32 cosponsors · Introduced Sep 26, 2025 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill amends federal law to explicitly prohibit members of the Armed Forces and National Guard from being ordered to enforce immigration laws. It codifies a restriction aligned with the Posse Comitatus Act, which generally bars the military from domestic law enforcement, by adding new sections to titles 10 and 32 of the U.S. Code that make clear the military cannot be deployed for immigration enforcement or support.
Why we flagged it
The bill reinforces the Posse Comitatus Act by explicitly codifying a prohibition on military deployment for domestic immigration enforcement, protecting the constitutional separation of military and civilian law enforcement.
What the text implies
- Clarifies ambiguity in whether National Guard units operating under state control (Title 32) are subject to Posse Comitatus restrictions, potentially limiting governors' ability to deploy Guard for immigration enforcement without federal authorization.
- May constrain executive flexibility during border emergencies or mass migration events, as military support for immigration enforcement would require legislative authorization rather than executive order.
- Codification signals congressional intent to resist executive expansion of military domestic law enforcement roles, establishing a statutory floor that cannot be easily overridden by administrative interpretation.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
The bill protects citizens and non-citizens alike from military involvement in domestic immigration enforcement, preserving the constitutional separation between military and civilian law enforcement. It reinforces limits on executive power to deploy armed forces for domestic policing, a foundational democratic safeguard.
Named in the bill
Armed Forces, National Guard, Posse Comitatus Act (18 U.S.C. § 1385), Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. § 101), Title 10 U.S.C., Title 32 U.S.C., House Committee on Armed Services
Where it stands
32 cosponsors: 32 Democrats.
- Sep 26, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Sep 26, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Armed Services · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Armed Services”
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, Dec 2025 to Dec 2025. Those filings disclosed $10,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 3 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.
Andrea Salinas, the sponsor, reported $700,715 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- U.S. Public Interest Research Group — $10,000 on 1 filing
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jan 19, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (1,166 characters) on Aug 19, 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.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Dec 2025 to Dec 2025. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jan 19, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
“Congress locks military out of immigration enforcement” QuorumCivic. https://share.quorumcivic.app/bill/119/hr5604 Report an error
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