SB 172: Specify persons unlawfully present are not privileged from arrest
This bill amends the Ohio Revised Code to clarify that individuals who are unlawfully present in the United States are not entitled to privileges from arrest. It does not grant any privileges to these individuals and supersedes any conflicting rules or actions by public offices or officials. Law enforcement agencies are allowed to arrest, detain, or take into custody anyone suspected of being unlawfully present in the United States, regardless of circumstances or need for a warrant. Public offices and officials are prohibited from obstructing or interfering with these actions. The bill also prevents officials from inquiring or providing information about an individual's citizenship or immigration status for immigration enforcement purposes.
| Sep. 15, 2025 | Referred to committee: Public Safety |
| Jun. 23, 2025 | Introduced |
| Jun. 18, 2025 | Passed |
| Jun. 12, 2025 | Reported: Armed Services, Veterans Affairs and Public Safety |
| Apr. 09, 2025 | Referred to committee: Armed Services, Veterans Affairs and Public Safety |
As Passed by the Senate
136th General Assembly
Regular Session
S. B. No. 172
2025-2026
Senator Roegner
Cosponsors: Senators Schaffer, Johnson, Brenner, Cirino, Gavarone, O'Brien
To enact section 9.631 of the Revised Code to specify that persons who are unlawfully present in the United States are not privileged from arrest.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF OHIO:
Section 1. That section 9.631 of the Revised Code be enacted to read as follows:
Sec. 9.631. (A) As used in this section:
(1) "Public office" includes every department, bureau, board, commission, office, or other organized body established by the constitution and laws of this state for the exercise of any function of state government, including any state-supported institution of higher education, any public school of this state, any court or judicial agency, or any political subdivision or agency of a political subdivision. "Public office" does not include the general assembly or a legislative agency of the general assembly.
(2) "Public official" includes all elected or appointed officials, officers, employees, or duly authorized representatives or agents of a public office.
S. B. No. 172
As Passed by the Senate
(B) (1) Subject to protections afforded under the United States Constitution and the Ohio Constitution, and notwithstanding any contrary provision of the Revised Code, no person who is, or is suspected of being, unlawfully present in the United States is privileged from arrest, detention, or being taken into or held in custody by a federal, state, or local law enforcement agency anywhere in this state under any circumstances, with or without a warrant, and regardless of whether the proceedings are administrative, civil, or criminal in nature, for removal or other immigration related purposes or proceedings.
(2) This section supersedes any conflicting rule, ordinance, resolution, policy, or directive enacted or adopted, and any other conflicting action approved, authorized, decreed, ordered, taken, or permitted, by a public office or public official before, on, or after the effective date of this section.
(C) No public office or public official shall do, or attempt to do, any of the following:
(1) Grant any privilege prohibited under division (B) (1) of this section:
(2) Enforce any rule, ordinance, resolution, policy, directive, or other action that purports, attempts, or is designed to grant any privilege prohibited under or superseded by division (B) of this section:
(3) Obstruct or otherwise interfere, directly or indirectly, with a federal, state, or local law enforcement agency or officer who is arresting or detaining a person, taking a person into custody, or holding a person in custody as permitted under division (B) (1) of this section;
(4) Prohibit any person from inquiring or providing information about an individual's citizenship or immigration status, release date, or other personal identifying information when doing so is in furtherance of an immigration enforcement action or otherwise to aid or cooperate with a federal, state, or local law enforcement agency or officer in arresting, detaining, taking into custody, or holding in custody a person who is, or is suspected of being, unlawfully present in the United States;
(5) Seek or impose any form of civil or criminal liability or penalty against any person acting in good faith under this section, including by holding such a person in contempt of court, ejecting or removing such a person from a public office or the office's surrounding grounds, or barring such a person from future access to a public office or the office's surrounding grounds, on the basis that the person violated any rule, ordinance, resolution, policy, directive, or other action that conflicts with or is superseded by division (B) of this section.