Congress·In Committee·H.R. 6397

Dignity for Detained Immigrants Act

Congress Proposes Ending Private Immigration Prisons and Increasing Oversight of Detention Centers

Dec 3, 2025·View on Congress.gov·Read full text

Part of: Legislative Push to End Private Immigration Detention Gains Momentum

This bill is one vehicle in a longer effort. See the full story across every version.View effort →

StalledNext up: A house committeeNo action in 7 months

This bill is currently sitting in the House Judiciary and Homeland Security committees. It has not moved forward since December 2025, and no action has been taken on it for seven months. The bill is considered stalled because it has not received a committee vote.

Legislative Progress

House

No action since December 2025

Senate

President

Law

How we got here

This bill’s path across every version that has carried it.

Reintroduced
Reintroduced from H.R. 2760 (118th), which died when its Congress ended.
H.R. 2760 (118th) →

Key Points

This bill would require the government to stop using private companies and local jails to hold immigrants. Within three years, all detention centers would have to be owned and run directly by the Department of Homeland Security.
The policy sets strict safety and care rules for all facilities. If a center fails to meet these standards twice in two years, the government must move the people held there to a safer location and cancel the facility's contract.
Immigrants would get faster access to the legal system. The bill requires a court hearing within 72 hours of being detained to decide if a person can be released. There would be a general rule that people should be released while waiting for their cases unless they are a danger to others.
The bill bans the use of solitary confinement and prevents anyone under age 18 from being held in immigration detention centers. It also creates special protections for vulnerable groups, including pregnant people, the elderly, and victims of crimes.
To increase transparency, the government would have to publish monthly reports on how many people are being held and where. If someone dies in custody, the government must notify Congress within 24 hours and release a full public report on what happened within 60 days.

ImmigrationCivil RightsCriminal Justice

Impact Analysis

Personal Impact

Scores run from -100 (strongly harmful) to +100 (strongly beneficial) for each group, combining impact, certainty, scope, and duration ratings of 1-5. How impact scoring works

Life & Work

Private detention facility operators and their subcontractors — some of which are publicly traded companies but many of which are smaller businesses providing services like food, transportation, and maintenance — would lose their government contracts within three years. The bill explicitly bans new contracts and requires termination of existing ones with for-profit entities running detention facilities or alternatives-to-detention programs.

-4

ImpactCertaintyScopeDurationSentiment

-4

ImpactCertaintyScopeDurationSentiment

Disabilities

State Impacts

StateScoreImpactCertaintyScopeDurationSentiment

Scores: 1 = low, 5 = highSentiment: -5 to +5 (net benefit)

Milestones

2 milestones2 actions

Dec 3, 2025House

Referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committee on Homeland Security, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.

Sent to a congressional committee for expert review. The committee decides whether this bill moves forward.

Dec 3, 2025

Introduced in House

The bill was officially filed and given a number. It now enters the legislative queue.

Related News

2 articles

NJ Spotlight News·Jan 23

NJ Democrats in Washington renew push to end private ICE detention

Senator Cory Booker reintroduced the Dignity for Detained Immigrants Act, which would phase out for-profit detention facilities like Delaney Hall within three years. The legislation also seeks to end mandatory detention and require unannounced DHS inspections to ensure safety standards are met.

Center Left

Northwest Asian Weekly·Dec 12, 2025

Jayapal, Smith introduce bill to reform immigration detention

Reps. Pramila Jayapal and Adam Smith introduced the Dignity for Detained Immigrants Act to impose oversight on the surging detention system. The bill requires DHS to phase out private jails within three years and move detainees to safer locations if facilities fail safety standards twice.

Center Left

No votes recorded for this bill yet.

Source Information

Document Type

Congressional Bill

Official Title

Dignity for Detained Immigrants Act

Bill NumberHR 6397

Congress119th Congress

ChamberHouse of Representatives

Latest ActionReferred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committee on Homeland Security, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.

Data Sources

Congress.gov

Official legislative information

Read Full Bill Text

Sponsor

Cosponsors

(133)

D: 133

Analysis generated by AI. Always verify with official sources.