H.R. 7297 — ICE and CBP Constitutional Accountability Act

This section states congressional findings that the First, Fourth, Fifth, and Fourteenth Amendments protect fundamental rights; that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers and agents have undermined those rights through due process violations, racial profiling, unreasonable and warrantless searches and seizures, and infringements on privacy and free speech; that such conduct has caused needless injuries, deaths, and public distrust of the federal government; and that civil suits provide a remedy for rights violations by government officials.

This section amends the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA), at 28 U.S.C. 2674, to establish U.S. government liability for any deprivation of constitutional or federal rights by an officer or agent of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) or U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)—or any person acting under such officer's or agent's direction—while acting under color of law, regardless of any Department of Homeland Security policy or custom and irrespective of whether the actor complied with official policy. The amendment waives sovereign immunity specifically for CBP and ICE; authorizes suits in law, equity, or other proceedings with punitive damages available; exempts such claims from the FTCA administrative claim prerequisite (28 U.S.C. 2675(a)); and directs payment of monetary damages first from appropriations under title IX and ss. 100051 and 100052 of Public Law 119-21, or if depleted, from the Judgment Fund (31 U.S.C. 1304). (Thus, affected individuals may sue the government directly in federal court without exhausting administrative remedies, and existing remedies against individual officers remain unaffected.)