As they struggled to fill their ranks amid a backlash to the blue, some local police departments turned to an unorthodox source: illegal immigrants, including those in the Obama-era DACA program, who have been issued badges and guns and sent into communities.
It turns out that although federal law generally bans illegal immigrants from possessing guns, it contains a quirky exception that allows them to carry firearms issued by a government agency.
Congressional Republicans say it’s time to close that loophole.
Led by Sen. Tedd Budd of North Carolina and Rep. Mary Miller of Illinois, a group of Republican lawmakers on Wednesday is set to introduce the Stop Illegal Alien Cops Act, which would rewrite gun laws to shut down the police exception.
“Illegal aliens have no Second Amendment rights. It is irresponsible for police departments to arm illegal aliens who have blatantly ignored our immigration laws with firearms and ammunition, let alone on the taxpayers’ dime,” Mr. Budd said.
The bill, shared first exclusively with The Washington Times, wouldn’t stop departments from hiring illegal immigrants who have work permits, but it would deny them the authority to carry guns as sworn officers.
“Illegal aliens do not have the right to possess firearms or ammunition in America. The Stop Illegal Alien Cops Act would ensure local police departments that try to hire illegal aliens cannot provide them with guns or ammunition,” said Sen. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, a co-sponsor of the Senate bill.
Andrew “Art” Arthur, a former immigration judge and now a fellow at the Center for Immigration Studies, said it was bizarre for police departments to turn to people in the country illegally to enforce laws on everyone else.
He hailed the legislation as a needed fix.
“The very idea that you can come to the United States, be here without status, and yet enforce the laws of the United States is ludicrous,” Mr. Arthur said. “If Americans understood how widespread this practice was, they’d likely be enraged.”
Federal law has banned illegal immigrants from buying, owning or possessing firearms since the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968. They appeared alongside felons, “mental incompetents” and veterans who weren’t honorably discharged as prohibited people.
The law also includes a specific exception for possession when the weapon was issued by a federal, state or local “department, agency or political subdivision.”
In January 2024, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives issued a memo specifically ruling that those approved for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals — the Obama-era program for illegal immigrant “Dreamers” who came to the U.S. as juveniles — could possess weapons while carrying out duties as officers.
Those still at the academy may possess weapons only during official training.
Mr. Budd’s bill erases that exception. He said it overrides federal law, so the ban applies to all illegal immigrants evenly.
Traditionally, most states required police officers to be citizens, though some allowed green card holders.
California, Washington, Colorado, Illinois and New Mexico have adopted policies over the past four years expanding their loopholes to allow some illegal immigrants to become gun-toting officers if they have some sort of tentative legal status.
Although DACA recipients have garnered the most attention, some of the state laws would apply to any illegal immigrant who has earned a tentative status that carries a federal-issued work permit.
The law as it exists now creates all manner of weird quirks.
Some agencies said their officers could carry their weapons only while on duty, and needed to collect them and turn them in at the end of each shift.
In 2023, the Los Angeles Police Department revised its policy to clarify that even off-duty officers can enforce the law, a change the department said justifies DACA officers carrying their guns outside their shifts.
Other sponsors of the Republican legislation include Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, John Cornyn of Texas and Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma.
Ms. Miller, who has 17 co-sponsors in the House, said allowing illegal immigrants to wear a badge and carry a gun was a “disgrace to every honorable officer and a threat to public safety.”
“Law enforcement authority must be reserved for those who respect and uphold our laws, not those who are in violation of them,” the congresswoman said.
The Department of Homeland Security has also been making waves with arrests of some police and corrections officers, it says, who are in the country illegally.
That includes Radule Bojovic, who was sworn in last summer as an officer in Hanover Park, in the Chicago suburbs. Homeland Security said he entered the U.S. in 2015 on a temporary visa and never left, making him an illegal immigrant.
The police department said Mr. Bojovic had legal work authorization when he was hired in January 2025 and that he passed a background check. The department also said it determined he was able to carry a gun under the 2024 ATF policy.
In Maine, a corrections officer was arrested by Homeland Security last year, and a recruit training to be a corrections officer was arrested last month. In both cases, local authorities acknowledged they weren’t citizens but said they had valid work permits.
In Minnesota, Homeland Security said last week that it had identified a corrections officer who has been living in the U.S. illegally, falsely claiming American citizenship. Morris Brown entered the United States in 2014 on a temporary visa, which was revoked in 2015.
He was spotted during an investigation into immigration fraud, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
