DHS Surveillance Technology Moratorium Act of 2026

The term covered contract means any contract or agreement relating to a covered surveillance technology and its use by the Department of Homeland Security to identify, locate, or otherwise track individuals or support or inform immigration enforcement operations.

The term covered surveillance technology means any technology, software, platform, application, or service used by the Department of Homeland Security that—

(A) collects, aggregates, analyzes, retains, maps, predicts, or operationalizes personal information; and

(B) is used to identify, locate, track, or otherwise support or inform immigration enforcement operations, whether civil or criminal in nature, conducted by the Department, including technologies involving facial recognition technologies, social media monitoring, cellphone location tracking, geolocation analytics, predictive analytics, artificial Intelligence-assisted targeting, or integrated data aggregation platforms.

The term Secretary means the Secretary of Homeland Security.

Except as provided in subsection (d), no funds appropriated or otherwise made available to the Department of Homeland Security may be obligated or expended for— until the requirements under section 4 are fulfilled.

(1) the award of a new covered contract,

(2) the renewal or extension of an existing covered contract,

(3) the exercise of an option under a covered contract, or

(4) the expansion or modification of a covered contract,

This section shall apply to all covered contracts entered into by—

(1) U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement;

(2) U.S. Customs and Border Protection;

(3) United States Citizenship and Immigration Services;

(4) the Office of Intelligence and Analysis; and

(5) any other Department of Homeland Security component determined appropriate by the Secretary.

Nothing in this Act may be construed to require the immediate termination of an existing covered contract in effect, or the use by the Department of Homeland Security of a covered surveillance technology, as of the date of the enactment of this Act.

The Secretary may waive subsection (a) on a case-by-case basis if the Secretary certifies to Congress that the covered contract at issue is necessary to address—

(A) an imminent act of violence or specific, articulable threat to life or public safety; or

(B) a specific national security threat.

Any such waiver shall include a detailed written justification submitted to Congress not later than seven days after the issuance of such waiver.

Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Inspector General of the Department of Homeland Security, in coordination with the Department of Homeland Security Privacy Office and the Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, shall conduct an audit and review of all covered surveillance technologies used by the Department.

The audit and review required under subsection (a) shall examine—

(1) the categories and sources of data collected, compiled, or aggregated;

(2) whether data relating to United States citizens is collected, retained, or analyzed;

(3) the use of facial recognition technologies;

(4) the use of commercial data brokers or telemetry data;

(5) data retention and deletion practices;

(6) contractor access to Federal Government data;

(7) privacy and civil liberties impacts;

(8) the use of technologies and information collected in connection with lawful protest, assembly, or protected speech;

(9) the use of technologies and information collected in connection with immigration enforcement operations;

(10) the accuracy and reliability of predictive or probabilistic systems; and

(11) compliance with applicable Federal privacy and civil liberties laws.

Not later than 60 days after completion of the audit and review required under section 4, the Secretary shall publish an unclassified and publicly available report containing—

(1) a list of all covered surveillance technologies currently used by Department of Homeland Security;

(2) the names of all contractors providing such technologies;

(3) a description of the capabilities and purposes of each such technology;

(4) all privacy and civil liberties impact assessments relating to the use of such technologies;

(5) an assessment of the impacts of the use of such technology on civil immigration enforcement operations;

(6) all data sources used by such technologies;

(7) all policies governing the retention, sharing, and deletion of collected information; and

(8) a description of any agreements, policies, or practices that govern the sharing of information utilized by covered surveillance technologies between the Department of Homeland Security and—

(A) other Federal agencies;

(B) any State, local, Tribal, or territorial government; or

(C) any private sector entity.

Any redactions in the report required under subsection (a) shall be limited solely to information the disclosure of which would create a specific and identifiable harm to national security. Any such redaction shall be accompanied by a written justification relating thereto, and shall be reviewed by the Inspector General of the Department of Homeland Security.

(1) the audit required under section 4 is completed;

(2) the public report required under section 5 is published; and

(3) the elapse of 90 days after the Secretary provides to Congress a report specifying—

(A) the implementation by the Department of Homeland Security of necessary safeguards to ensure compliance with all applicable constitutional, statutory, and privacy protections;

(B) the legal authorities relied upon by the Secretary for the procurement, deployment, and use of covered surveillance technologies; and

(C) all internal memoranda, policy directives, or guidance, and other records relied upon by the Department in authorizing or governing the use of covered surveillance technologies.

Not later than one year after the termination of the moratorium under section 3 and annually thereafter, the Secretary shall submit to Congress and publish on a publicly available website of the Department of Homeland Security an unclassified report on the Department’s use of covered surveillance technologies.

Each report under subsection (a) shall include the following:

(1) A current list of all covered surveillance technologies in use, and an identification of the contractors providing from which such technologies have been procured.

(2) Information relating to any new covered contracts entered into during the immediately preceding year.

(3) A description of any changes to data retention, sharing, or deletion policies.

(4) A summary of privacy and civil liberties incidents or complaints and the resolution of such incidents and complaints.

(5) Information relating to any waivers issued under section 3(d) during the immediately preceding year.

(6) An assessment of continued compliance with applicable constitutional, statutory, and privacy protections.

Any redactions in a report required under subsection (a) shall be limited solely to information the disclosure of which would create a specific and identifiable harm to national security. Any such redaction shall be accompanied by a written justification relating thereto, and shall be reviewed by the Inspector General of the Department of Homeland Security.