Stop ICE Election Militarization Act
Summary
What This Bill Does
The Stop ICE Election Militarization Act adds immigration officers to the federal criminal statute that prohibits officers or members of the Armed Forces from interfering with elections. The amendment places immigration officers within the statute's referenced restrictions and enforcement language.
The bill also creates a four-week pre-election quiet period for federal elections. During that period, an immigration enforcement or removal operation may proceed only when it is based on particularized criminal probable cause relating to a particular person or when it is necessary to prevent imminent death or serious bodily injury.
The exception requires criminal probable cause, not merely a generalized operation or ordinary civil immigration basis. The bill does not bar emergency action, an operation meeting the individualized criminal standard, election activity outside the four-week window, or ordinary non-enforcement duties not constituting an immigration enforcement or removal operation.
Who Benefits and How
Voters in immigrant communities gain reduced risk that nearby enforcement activity chills turnout during the final four weeks. Election administrators and civil-rights monitors gain a clearer rule against immigration-officer interference. People targeted only through broad civil operations receive a temporary protection. The public retains emergency and individualized criminal enforcement exceptions.
Who Bears the Burden and How
ICE and other immigration officers must pause or redesign operations, establish whether an exception applies, document particularized criminal probable cause, and coordinate timing. Civil removal targets may remain at large until after the window. DHS supervisors, counsel, and prosecutors must train staff and review operations. Communities could bear risk if a noncriminal civil target presents concerns that do not meet the imminent-harm exception.
Key Provisions
- Expands the election-interference statute to immigration officers.
- Prohibits immigration operations during a four-week election window.
- Requires individualized criminal probable cause for one exception.
- Preserves operations needed to prevent imminent death.
- Preserves operations needed to prevent serious bodily injury.
- Restricts generalized or civil-only operations during the window.
- Protects federal-election participation from enforcement pressure.
- Leaves qualifying emergency and criminal operations available.
Evidence Chain:
This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
At a Glance
What This Bill Does
Extends the federal criminal prohibition on military election interference to immigration officers and bars immigration enforcement or removal operations during the four weeks before a federal election unless based on particularized criminal probable cause for an individual or needed to prevent imminent death or serious bodily injury.
Key Policy Areas
Federal Elections, Immigration Enforcement, Voter Protection, Election Intimidation, DHS Operations
Primary Purpose
Extends the federal criminal prohibition on military election interference to immigration officers and bars immigration enforcement or removal operations during the four weeks before a federal election unless based on particularized criminal probable cause for an individual or needed to prevent imminent death or serious bodily injury.
Policy Domains
Section 2 immigration-officer election restrictions
Identified Gains
- Voters in immigrant communities
- Citizens living in mixed-status households
- Election administrators preventing intimidation
- Civil-rights monitors observing federal elections
- Civil removal targets during the quiet period
- Communities protected by emergency exceptions
Identified Costs
- ICE officers scheduling removal operations
- DHS supervisors reviewing probable cause
- Immigration prosecutors delaying civil enforcement
- DHS counsel interpreting election restrictions
- Civil enforcement teams pausing broad operations
- Communities exposed to delayed noncriminal removals
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
In CommitteeReferred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.
Introduced in House
Mr. Larson of Connecticut (for himself, Ms. Williams of Georgia, …
Stakeholder Effects
cui bono?How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.
Civil enforcement teams pausing broad operations, DHS counsel interpreting election restrictions, DHS supervisors reviewing probable cause
Communities exposed to delayed noncriminal removals, Communities protected by emergency exceptions, Voters in immigrant communities
Positive-direction: Communities protected by emergency exceptions, Voters in immigrant communities
Negative-direction: Communities exposed to delayed noncriminal removals
Citizens living in mixed-status households
Election administrators preventing intimidation
Civil-rights monitors observing federal elections
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "supervisor"
- → DHS official approving an operation
- "protected_voter"
- → Voter affected by immigration enforcement activity
- "operation_target"
- → Individual targeted by a removal operation
- "election_official"
- → Federal election administrator
- "restricted_officer"
- → Immigration officer
Note: {'scope_ids': ['pre_election_immigration_operations'], 'description': 'The restriction lasts four weeks before a federal election and preserves individualized criminal-probable-cause and imminent-harm operations; it does not suspend every immigration-officer function or all enforcement throughout the year.'}
Key Definitions
Terms defined in this bill
The four weeks before an election for federal office when covered operations are prohibited absent an exception.
Criminal probable cause tied to a particular individual rather than a generalized or civil-only enforcement basis.
An immigration officer under section 101 of the Immigration and Nationality Act.
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology