Rep. Maxwell Alejandro Frost (D-FL) is the youngest member of Congress and the first Gen Z lawmaker. He introduced new legislation that aimed to reshape the operation of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Frost has introduced the Stop Unlawful Detention and End Mistreatment (SUDEM) Act. This bill seeks to bring transparency and accountability to the system and abolish the system of secrecy, abuse and lack of responsibility and oversight.
Under the SUDEM Act, ICE and its contractors would be required to disclose details of every detention. These details would include the name and other public details of the person detained, location of their detention and the reason of the arrest. ICE would also have to clarify what legal authority is being used.
The bill also requires ICE to disclose if there were incidents where force was used on detainees, the requirement of medical treatment and the terms of their transfer or deportation.
ICE also needs to report any disciplinary action that has been taken by the agency against its agents.
“ICE has operated in the shadows for too long,” Frost said, “Families deserve to know what’s happening in detention facilities and immigrants deserve due process and dignity.”
ICE has handled the people they’ve detained with secrecy, abuse, and due process violations.
That’s why I introduced the SUDEM Act to hold ICE accountable for what’s really going on inside their facilities and give families answers about their loved ones. pic.twitter.com/Ln0ShEjsR9
— Congressman Maxwell Alejandro Frost (@RepMaxwellFrost) June 23, 2025
Advocates for immigrant rights came out in support of mandated transparency. They have claimed that it is impossible to be an agency responsible for civil rights violations without holding the agency accountable.
Frost announced this bill during a press event in Orlando. He stood alongside immigrant rights groups including CASA, LULAC, Public Citizen, and the Florida Immigration Coalition. Leaders and members of these groups agree that a bill like the SODEM Act is needed and it is long overdue and it is a necessary step towards fairness from immigration enforcement.
There have been years of reports of mistreatment at these detention centers. There are no proper medical facilities, living conditions are worse and unsafe, and abuse runs rampant.
However, these details have been kept hidden from public knowledge, and Frost believes that the public has the right to know about all of it.
The un-elected Florida Attorney General’s threats to jail and remove @OCFLMayor Demings and the entire elected board of Orange Commissioners is pure FASCISM.
Who the hell does he think he is?? And what about the $10 MILLION he stole from Medicaid and laundered thru @HopeFlorida? pic.twitter.com/5bN5tXNjEr
— Senator Carlos Guillermo Smith (@CarlosGSmith) July 30, 2025
The freshman congressman has also been critical of Florida’s republican leadership. Attorney General Ashley Moody threatened to fire officials of Orange County if they refused to cooperate with immigration enforcement measures. Some of these measures are extreme and even enforcement officials are uncomfortable engaging in them.
Frost has blasted the move and called it “a political shakedown.”
“Elected officials should represent their communities, not bow to political bullying,” he said.
“Immigration enforcement cannot be used as a weapon to intimidate local governments.”
The SUDEM Act is one of Frost’s first major bills. The bill may be valid yet it faces long odds in a divided Congress. However, the bill has energized advocacy groups and progressive lawmakers. They see the proposal as part of a movement to reform immigration policy.
Democrat Congressman Maxwell Frost on illegal aliens: “Let’s document every single one of them with a speedy path to citizenship.”
— America (@america) June 18, 2025
For now, the SUDEM Act signals that the youngest member of Congress is determined to make his mark. All that is left is to see if he is able to shine a light on one of the most controversial arms of the federal government.
