Police Group Backs ICE Protection Act
The National Police Association endorsed the ICE Protection Act of 2026. The endorsement cites Department of Homeland Security reports of protestors using vehicles as weapons against Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers.
The proposed ICE Protection Act of 2026 would double the maximum prison term to 40 years for assaulting a federal officer with a dangerous weapon. It would also introduce a new mandatory minimum sentence of 5 to 10 years specifically for using a vehicle to harm an officer. Introduced by Senator John Cornyn of Texas and co-sponsored by six other Republican senators, the bill has been referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee for deliberation. The legislation follows a Department of Homeland Security report highlighting a 3,200% increase in vehicular attacks on ICE personnel, rising from 2 incidents in the 2024-2025 period to 66 in the 2025-2026 period. DHS also reported a 1,347% increase in overall assaults against ICE officers in 2025 compared to the previous year. This bill is one of several recent legislative efforts concerning the immigration agency. In contrast, the "ICE Accountability Act," introduced by Democratic senators, seeks to create an independent watchdog to investigate the agency's conduct. Another proposal, the "ICE Standards Act," aims to mandate de-escalation training and the use of body cameras for ICE agents. At the state level, lawmakers have also moved to regulate federal immigration enforcement. Legislators in New Jersey have introduced bills to allow civil lawsuits against federal agents for unconstitutional conduct and to require federal agents to be identifiable during operations. The backdrop for this includes a significant increase in ICE's budget for surveillance technology and weaponry. Reports indicate the agency has expanded its use of biometric trackers and cellphone location databases to monitor suspects and, increasingly, protestors who are U.S. citizens. Other federal proposals seek to curtail the agency's power, including a bill to divert $75 billion from ICE's budget to fund state and local police departments. Additionally, lawmakers in at least four states have introduced measures to bar former ICE employees from holding civil service jobs.
