DACA applicants gain legal shield against enforcement using their own disclosures
S. 2350 — Protect DREAMer Confidentiality Act of 2025 · Filed by Martin Heinrich (D-NM) · 28 cosponsors · Introduced Jul 17, 2025 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill requires the Department of Homeland Security to keep DACA applicants' personal information confidential and prohibits sharing it with immigration enforcement agencies (ICE, CBP) or state/local police, except to prevent fraud, address national security threats, or investigate unrelated felonies. It also bars DHS from referring DACA recipients to any law enforcement agency solely because of their immigration status.
Why we flagged it
The bill's core function is to shield DACA applicants from law-enforcement access to their own application data, preventing the use of voluntary disclosure as a basis for enforcement action. This is a privacy and due-process measure, not a substantive change to DACA eligibility or scope.
What the text implies
- Prevents state and local law enforcement from accessing DACA applicant data, which may limit cooperation between federal and local immigration enforcement and could affect state-level immigration enforcement priorities.
- The carve-out for 'felony not related to immigration status' creates a boundary: DHS may share data for serious crimes, but not for immigration-related offenses, which may complicate investigations involving both immigration and other criminal conduct.
- Applicants with pending or denied DACA cases gain the same confidentiality protection as approved recipients, potentially shielding individuals whose applications reveal deportable conduct from enforcement referral.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
DACA recipients and applicants gain concrete protection: their voluntary disclosure to DHS for deferred-action status cannot be weaponized against them by immigration enforcement or state police. This removes a chilling effect on applications and protects a vulnerable population from self-incrimination through the application process itself.
Named in the bill
Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Department of Justice, State and local law enforcement, Tribal law enforcement, DACA program recipients and applicants
Where it stands
28 cosponsors: 26 Democrats, 2 Independents.
- Jul 17, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in Senate”
- Jul 17, 2025 — Referred to Senate Committee on the Judiciary · Congress.gov: “Read twice and referred to the 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 (1,982 characters) on Nov 2, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,927 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 2026-11-02.
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