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FIRST ON FOX: Senate Republicans are pushing to close a decades-old immigration loophole they say was heavily abused by the Biden administration.
The effort, led by Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., would prevent detained illegal immigrants from being released back into the U.S. in the event that their home countries would not accept their return.
Britt told Fox News Digital that her bill, the Keeping Our Communities Safe Act, would cinch tight the loophole that was created in 2001 when the Supreme Court ruled that illegal immigrants could be released from detention after six months if no country accepted them for deportation.
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Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., attends the confirmation hearing for acting Attorney General Todd Blanche before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill on July 15, 2026, in Washington, D.C. (Getty Images)
“Ultimately, we want to create pathways for these people to go back to the country they came from,” Britt said. “But just because we can’t get a country to comply does not mean that that person should get to roam free in the United States of America.”
“They should be there in detention until we’re able to find them a pathway back to their country,” she continued. “So this loophole was obviously exploited a great deal in the Biden administration, and what we’re doing is making sure that we are putting forth legislation that closes it once and for all.”
Over two decades ago, the court ruling limited the federal government’s authority to detain illegal immigrants and instilled a time frame that a noncitizen could remain detained.
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Once that six-month period has elapsed and there is no likelihood of removal, the government is tasked with presenting evidence that removal is still likely and on the table. But if they can’t, the detainee has to be released under supervision.
Britt’s bill targets two sections of the Immigration and Nationality Act, a 1950s-era law that has undergirded the nation’s immigration laws for decades, to expand the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) authority to detain criminal aliens, deny bonds to criminal aliens, and generally limit the availability of bonds unless an illegal immigrant 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 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 violent crime.
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Exterior view of the Otay Mesa Immigration Customs Enforcement detention center in San Diego. (Getty)
The bill has been circulating in Congress since 2011. Britt also tried to get it passed during the Biden administration.
The legislation has 11 Senate Republicans on board as co-sponsors, including Sens. 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., Cindy Hyde-Smith, R-Miss., Roger Marshall, R-Kan., Jim Risch, R-Idaho, and Mike Rounds, R-S.D.
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“Joe Biden and Kamala Harris allowed millions of illegals to INVADE our country — and now law-abiding Americans are paying the price,” Tuberville said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “We need to do everything we can to deport every single one of these criminals.”
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