HYDE-SMITH RENEWS SUPPORT TO CLOSE LEGAL LOOPHOLE REQUIRING RELEASE OF ALIENS FROM IMMIGRATION DETENTION
‘Keep Our Communities Safe Act’ Expands DHS Authority in Handling Criminal Illegal Aliens
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.) today joined U.S. Senator Katie Britt (R-Ala.) in reintroducing legislation to close a legal loophole that generally requires the release of illegal aliens, including those with criminal records, from immigration detention into American communities after six months if no country has accepted them for deportation.
The Keep Our Communities Safe Act addresses the six-month legal loophole created by the U.S. Supreme Court in its 2001 Zadvydas v. Davis ruling. The legislation would amend Section 236 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) to expand the authority of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to detain criminal aliens.
“I am again supporting this commonsense legislation because closing this ‘catch and release’ loophole will ultimately keep dangerous illegals detained instead of being freed to put law-abiding Americans, law enforcement, and our communities at risk. It’s time to finally fix the current law that permits illegal aliens with criminal records to be released back into the United States after six months simply because no other country will accept them for deportation,” Hyde-Smith said.
“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 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.”
By amending Section 236, which governs the apprehension and detention of aliens, the Keep Our Communities Safe Act would give DHS greater authority to detain criminal aliens, deny bond to criminal aliens, and generally limit the availability of bond unless the detainee can establish by clear and convincing evidence that they’re not a flight risk or a risk to another person or the community.
The bill would also amend Section 241 of the law, which governs the removal of aliens, to allow for extensions of detention in a number of cases, including in cases where an illegal alien is a threat to national security or has committed an aggravated felony or crime of violence.
In addition to Hyde-Smith, additional bill cosponsors include U.S. Senators Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), Jim Risch (R-Idaho), and Mike Rounds (R-S.D.).
Background and a section-by-section summary are available here.
Hyde-Smith serves on the Senate Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee, which Britt chairs. Hyde-Smith, who cosponsored similar legislation in previous sessions of Congress, has also joined Britt in other border security and immigration legislation like the Laken Riley Act (S.5) and the Mandatory E-Verify Act of 2026 (S.4620).
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