Sponsors (11)
The bill strengthens federal leverage and victim remedies by clarifying detainer obligations and enabling suits/fee recovery, but does so at the cost of increased legal and fiscal pressure on state and local governments and heightened civil‑liberty risks and chilling effects for immigrant communities.
State and local governments have clearer legal definitions and federal treatment for responding to DHS detainers and information requests, reducing uncertainty about obligations and (in some cases) shifting legal responsibility to the federal government.
Victims (or their close relatives) of qualifying violent crimes gain a private civil remedy to seek compensatory damages and recover attorneys' and expert fees when a jurisdiction failed to honor DHS detainer/notification requests, improving access to justice for harmed individuals.
Certain federal economic and community-development grants can be conditioned on waiver of sovereign immunity, giving the federal government leverage to encourage state/local cooperation with federal immigration requests.
State and local governments face increased legal liability and litigation costs from new causes of action and damages tied to alleged failures to comply with DHS detainers or notifications, potentially reducing funds for public services or increasing local fiscal pressure.
Jurisdictions are pressured to change local policies (including victim-witness protections and policing practices) or to waive sovereign immunity to avoid being labeled noncompliant, increasing administrative burdens and effectively compelling local law enforcement to perform federal immigration duties.
Immigrant communities face greater risk of federal enforcement, reduced willingness to report crimes, and diminished access to local services because increased local cooperation with federal immigration enforcement chills trust and limits remedies (including reduced ability to sue local actors for some detentions).
Based on analysis of 4 sections of legislative text.
Allows victims of certain violent crimes to sue States/localities for harms linked to "sanctuary" policies, conditions federal grants on sovereign-immunity waivers, and treats officers who honor DHS detainers as federal agents for liability.
Introduced January 22, 2025 by Thomas Roland Tillis · Last progress January 22, 2025
Creates a new federal civil cause of action that lets victims (or certain family members) sue States or localities when an alien who benefited from a local "sanctuary" policy commits specified violent crimes and the jurisdiction failed to honor certain DHS detainer/notification requests; conditions several federal grant programs on a waiver of sovereign immunity for those suits and treats state or local officers who comply with DHS detainers as federal agents for purposes of liability (substituting the United States as defendant under the Federal Tort Claims Act). It defines "sanctuary jurisdiction/policy," sets eligibility, timelines, and remedies for plaintiffs, preserves immunity for officials who follow detainers, and preserves liability for knowing civil or constitutional rights violations.