Bill would empower ICE to lead new center targeting organized retail theft

The Combating Organized Retail Crime Act (CORCA), first introduced by Sen. Chuck Grassley and co-sponsored by 13 Senate Democrats including Amy Klobuchar, Mark Warner and Dick Durbin, seeks to give Immigration and Customs Enforcement authority to coordinate a new Organized Retail and Supply Chain Crime Coordination Center. The center would consolidate analysts and agents from the FBI, DEA, Customs and Border Protection, Secret Service and other bodies to share information on large-scale shoplifting operations that allegedly fund drug, weapons and human-smuggling crimes.

While the bill frames the issue as “unprecedented” organized retail theft, critics including the ACLU’s Jina John and Nina Patel argue it would expand DHS surveillance, allow retailers to hand over continuous video and license-plate data, and place decision-making power in the hands of an ICE-appointed director. The House approved CORCA and sent it to the Senate Judiciary Committee, where supporters hope to attach it as an amendment to the 2027 National Defense Authorization Act, citing potential reductions in violent crime. Opponents, among them the NAACP and Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, warn the proposal creates a new fusion center that could erode privacy and civil liberties.