US Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) has introduced the “No Private Bounty Hunters for Immigration Enforcement Act,” legislation aimed at prohibiting the Department of Homeland Security from outsourcing civil immigration enforcement functions to private contractors operating under profit-driven or incentive-based arrangements.

The bill seeks to bar DHS from contracting private entities for activities such as “skip tracing, surveillance, and location verification,” which are currently used in certain immigration enforcement efforts.

“Turning immigration enforcement into a profit-seeking enterprise crosses a dangerous line,” said Congressman Krishnamoorthi in a statement on January 20. “We are already seeing reckless use of force in militarized federal immigration operations, including fatal shootings and aggressive raids with little transparency or accountability. There is no justification for outsourcing coercive power to for-profit, armed private bounty hunters who would operate with even fewer safeguards. The answer is accountability under the law, not profit-driven enforcement in the shadows.”

Civil liberties advocates have welcomed the proposed legislation. “For months, the Trump administration has encouraged federal agents to use increasingly lawless and violent tactics against members of our communities,” said Kate Voigt, Senior Policy Counsel at the ACLU. “Using private bounty hunters is just one of the many inhumane tactics DHS is using to terrorize our communities and kidnap our neighbors. Congress must pass the ‘No Private Bounty Hunters for Immigration Enforcement Act’ without delay.”

According to the statement accompanying the bill, the legislation is being introduced amid growing scrutiny of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and DHS enforcement practices nationwide.

“In recent weeks, fatal shootings by federal immigration agents in Minnesota, Illinois, and Oregon have drawn public outrage and renewed questions about the agency’s use of force, internal accountability, and investigative transparency during large-scale raids,” the statement said. “At the same time, investigative reporting has revealed that ICE has relied on private firms, including companies tied to the for-profit detention industry, to track and locate individuals using commercial data and surveillance tools, raising alarms about privatized enforcement operating beyond meaningful public oversight.”

The statement also noted that last year Congressman Krishnamoorthi sent a letter to DHS leadership warning that proposals to hire private contractors to “locate, surveil, and report” on individuals within immigrant communities could invite “abuse, errors, and the erosion of public trust,” particularly within an enforcement system already facing challenges related to oversight, vetting, and accountability.

Under the proposed legislation, the No Private Bounty Hunters for Immigration Enforcement Act would bar DHS from contracting with private entities to conduct skip tracing, surveillance, or location verification for civil immigration enforcement. It would require the termination or amendment of existing DHS contracts that authorize such activities, prohibit per-person or bonus-based payments that incentivize contractors to locate individuals subject to civil immigration detainers, and direct the DHS Inspector General to conduct a rapid audit of all DHS contracts to ensure compliance.

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