No Private Bounty Hunters for Immigration Enforcement Act

119 HR 7161 IH: No Private Bounty Hunters for Immigration Enforcement Act U.S. House of Representatives 2026-01-20 text/xml EN Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain. I 119th CONGRESS 2d Session H. R. 7161 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES January 20, 2026 Mr. Krishnamoorthi introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary A BILL To limit the use of Federal contractors to perform certain enforcement activities under the immigration laws, and for other purposes. 1. Short title This Act may be cited as the No Private Bounty Hunters for Immigration Enforcement Act . 2. Limitations on the use of contractors to enforce the immigration laws (a) Prohibition on certain DHS contracts (1) In general The Secretary of Homeland Security— (A) may not enter into any contract or memorandum of understanding with any person after the date of the enactment of this Act to perform skip tracing, surveillance, or location verification for the purpose of civil enforcement of the immigration laws; and (B) shall— (i) terminate any contract or memorandum of understanding of the Department of Homeland Security in effect on the date of the enactment of this Act that provides for the performance of skip tracing, surveillance, or location verification for the purpose of civil enforcement of the immigration law; and (ii) amend any contract or memorandum of understanding of the Department of Homeland Security in effect on the date of the enactment of this Act not described under clause (i) to prohibit the performance of skip tracing, surveillance, or location verification for the purpose of civil enforcement of the immigration laws under such contract or memorandum. (2) Application to subcontractors No person with which the Secretary of Homeland Security has a contract or memorandum of understanding, or any subcontractor thereof at any tier, may use a subcontractor to perform any function prohibited under paragraph (1). (b) Limitation on use of Federal funds (1) In general Except as provided in paragraph (2), no Federal funds may be used to pay a private entity on a per-person or bonus basis for locating an individual who is subject to a civil immigration detainer. (2) Exception Paragraph (1) does not apply to the use of a publicly available data analytics tool operated solely by a Federal contractor performing an administrative data management function under direct Government supervision that does not involve— (A) field surveillance of, or personal contact with, the individual subject to the detainer; or (B) an activity prohibited under subsection (a). (c) Audit Not later than 30 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Inspector General of the Department of Homeland Security shall conduct an audit of each contract of the Department of Homeland Security to ensure that each such contract complies with the limitations under this section. (d) Definition In this section, the term skip tracing means the practice of locating an individual using an address, employment data, social-media, or other personal data.