Tuberville, Britt Work to End Practice of Releasing Illegals from Immigration Detention

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) joined U.S. Senator Katie Britt (R-AL) in introducing the Keep Our Communities Safe Act of 2026. The legislation would close a legal loophole created by the United States Supreme Court's 2001 ruling in Zadvydas v. Davis, which generally requires the release of aliens from immigration detention into American communities after six months if no country has accepted them for deportation.

"Joe Biden and Kamala Harris allowed millions of illegals to INVADE our country-and now law-abiding Americans are paying the price," said Sen. Tuberville. "We need to do everything we can to deport every single one of these criminals. I'm proud to cosponsor the Keep Our Communities Safe Act to close this legal loophole and allow these illegals to be detained and sent home for good."

"America is a nation of laws, and if you violate our laws and are subject to removal from the United States, you should remain in detention until the point of deportation," said Sen. Britt. "Zadvydas v. Davis created a legal loophole that forces the release of aliens into our communities after six months simply because no country has agreed to take them back. This bill would help to close that loophole once and for all."

Sens. Tuberville and Britt were joined by Sens. Ted Budd (R-NC), Tom Cotton (R-AR), Kevin Cramer (R-ND), Mike Crapo (R-ID), Ted Cruz (R-TX), Deb Fischer (R-NE), John Hoeven (R-ND), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS), Roger Marshall (R-KS), Jim Risch (R-ID), and Mike Rounds (R-SD) in cosponsoring of this legislation.

Read full text of the bill here.

BACKGROUND:

The bill would amend Section 236 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), which governs the apprehension and detention of aliens, to expand the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) authority to detain criminal aliens, deny bond to criminal aliens, and generally limit the availability of bond unless an alien can establish by clear and convincing evidence that they're not a flight risk or a risk to another person or the community.

It would also amend Section 241 of the INA, which governs the removal of aliens, to allow for extensions of detention in a number of cases, including in cases where an alien is a threat to national security or has committed an aggravated felony or crime of violence.

Senator Tommy Tuberville represents Alabama in the United States Senate and is a member of the Senate Armed Services, Agriculture, Veterans' Affairs, HELP and Aging Committees.

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