Sponsor
Buddy Carter
Representative · R-GA
Representative · R-GA
The bill strengthens federal immigration enforcement and creates enforceable incentives for local compliance (speeding identification and transfers and reducing legal uncertainty for officers) at the cost of local autonomy, community trust, civil remedies for affected individuals, and potential fiscal and administrative burdens on local governments.
State and local law enforcement can request DHS verification and share custody/immigration-status information with DHS, enabling faster identification and transfer of noncitizens to federal custody and clearer arrest/custody decisions for local officers.
Creates a clear federal enforcement pathway — federal courts can enjoin jurisdictions violating 8 U.S.C. §1373 — reducing ambiguity about remedies and promoting more uniform application of federal immigration information-sharing rules.
The Attorney General can withhold DOJ law-enforcement grants from jurisdictions that knowingly violate §1373, creating a strong financial incentive for local compliance with federal immigration-communication rules.
Noncitizens (including lawful residents and undocumented immigrants) are likely to face faster identification, detention, and transfer to federal immigration custody, increasing the risk of expedited deportation or removal proceedings.
Jurisdictions lose ability to adopt local privacy or 'sanctuary' policies that limit immigration-related data sharing, reducing local autonomy and undermining community trust in law enforcement.
Liability immunity for officers may limit civil remedies for immigrants or others wrongly detained or subject to privacy violations, reducing avenues for redress.
Based on analysis of 4 sections of legislative text.
Prohibits state/local policies that materially restrict sharing defined immigration-related information with DHS, requires release notices, grants DOJ enforcement tools, and provides local-officer immunity.
Official title: To amend section 642 of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (8 U.S.C. 1373) to clarify and strengthen requirements relating to information sharing between State and local governments and Federal immigration authorities, to prohibit State and local policies that materially restrict such information sharing, and for other purposes.
Introduced February 9, 2026 by Buddy Carter · Last progress February 9, 2026
Prohibits state and local “sanctuary” policies that ban or materially limit sharing certain immigration-related information with federal authorities, requires notice to DHS of inmate releases, and grants immunity to local officers who cooperate with immigration enforcement. It gives the Attorney General authority to sue jurisdictions that violate the law and to make violating jurisdictions ineligible for some DOJ law-enforcement grants. The act also defines the covered categories of information and what counts as a material restriction on sharing.