Gottheimer unveils immigration enforcement reform bill in House

Legislation authored by Rep. Josh Gottheimer, introduced in the U.S. House, is designed to enhance training protocols and create defined standards for immigration enforcement officers, according to the U.S. Congress.

Filed as H.R.7870 on March 9, 2026, during the 119th Congress’s regular session, the following summary draws on the actual bill text and includes clarifications for better understanding of its elements.

H.R.7870 directs immigration enforcement officers to undergo new training requirements within 180 days after the bill takes effect. The Secretary of Homeland Security would require annual instruction on topics including use of force, strategies for de-escalation, and understanding First and Fourth Amendment rights. Officers would need to utilize both body-worn and dashboard cameras during operations, follow sharpened identification protocols that limit use of “police” identifiers, and restrict enforcement activity in specific sensitive sites like schools and hospitals unless there are urgent situations. Additional provisions aim to prevent American citizens from being arrested or deported by insisting on citizenship verification prior to detainment, and require giving local law enforcement at least 1-day notice before federal activities are conducted.

Rep. Josh Gottheimer, Democrat from New Jersey’s 5th District, is the sole sponsor of this legislation.

He has introduced 57 other measures since the current session began.

Both the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate may introduce congressional bills, with the exception of revenue legislation, which must originate in the House. When introduced, bills proceed to committees for evaluation, public hearings, possible changes and debate before a potential vote in both chambers. Identical bill versions approved by the House and Senate advance to the president for approval or veto. Congress is segmented into two-year terms that are consecutively numbered, each containing two annual sessions. Official legislative actions and bill histories are recorded and made available by the U.S. Congress via Congress.gov.

Josh S. Gottheimer represents New Jersey in Congress, having first been elected as a Democrat to the One Hundred Fifteenth and the next four Congresses, starting January 3, 2017. He earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1997 and subsequently received his law degree from Harvard Law School in 2004.

Information in this article was sourced from the U.S. Congress. The original datasets are available here.