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No Private Bounty Hunters for Immigration Enforcement Act
To limit the use of Federal contractors to perform certain enforcement activities under the immigration laws, and for other purposes.
Summary
The No Private Bounty Hunters for Immigration Enforcement Act prohibits the Department of Homeland Security from contracting with private companies to perform skip tracing, surveillance, or location services for civil immigration enforcement. The bill requires DHS to terminate existing contracts used for these purposes and to amend other contracts to remove any provisions allowing such activities. The law also bars the use of Federal funds to pay private entities per person or by bonus for locating individuals subject to immigration detainers, with a narrow exception for data analytics tools operated directly by federal contractors under government supervision. The bill requires the DHS Inspector General to audit all DHS contracts within 30 days to ensure compliance with these restrictions.
AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.
Sponsor (1)
4 cosponsors
Money behind the sponsor
Top reported contributors to Raja Krishnamoorthi’s campaign committee (2024 cycle) — who funds the bill’s sponsor, not a claim about this bill. Data from FEC.
- KIRKLAND & ELLIS LLP $165,419
- KIRKLAND & ELLIS $108,249
- GOOGLE $24,750
- MCKINSEY & COMPANY $24,300
- ACCENTURE $21,500
Organizations whose employees gave the most — itemized individual contributions grouped by the donor’s reported employer (FEC Schedule A). Full finance for Raja Krishnamoorthi → · Outside spending →
Actions (2)
- Jan 20, 2026 Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary. · house
- Jan 20, 2026 Introduced in House
Similar bills (6)
Bills with similar text or summary — includes reintroductions across Congresses. Ranked by semantic similarity of the bill text (computed locally); a neutral discovery aid, not a claim the bills are duplicates.
Full text
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.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the “No Private Bounty Hunters for Immigration Enforcement Act”.
SEC. 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. <all>
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