Sponsors
The bill strengthens federal enforcement and creates legal and financial incentives for jurisdictions to share immigration information and transfer custody quickly, improving federal-local coordination but reducing local control, community trust, and civil protections for immigrants while potentially shifting costs and funding risks onto localities.
State and local jurisdictions are more likely to comply with federal immigration information-sharing rules because federal courts can enjoin violations and the Attorney General can withhold DOJ law‑enforcement grants, creating strong legal and financial incentives for uniform application of federal law.
State and local agencies can share custody and immigration-status information with DHS without local penalties, enabling faster identification and transfer of noncitizens to federal custody.
DHS must verify an individual's immigration or citizenship status when requested by local authorities, reducing uncertainty during arrests and custody decisions and helping law enforcement resolve cases more quickly.
Noncitizens (including lawful residents and immigrants) may face faster identification, detention, and transfer to federal immigration custody and have reduced avenues for civil redress because of expanded data‑sharing and officer liability immunity, increasing deportation risk and limiting remedies for wrongful actions.
Local jurisdictions lose ability to adopt or enforce sanctuary, privacy, or other local limits on immigration-related data sharing, eroding local control over policing and likely reducing trust between immigrant communities and local authorities.
Jurisdictions found to 'knowingly' violate §1373 could lose DOJ law-enforcement grants, which may reduce local policing resources and public-safety services or force localities and taxpayers to cover the resulting gaps.
Based on analysis of 4 sections of legislative text.
Prohibits state/local limits on sharing specified immigration and custody information with federal authorities, requires release notices and holding time, expands officer immunity, and allows DOJ enforcement and grant penalties.
Introduced February 9, 2026 by Buddy Carter · Last progress February 9, 2026
Prohibits state and local laws, policies, or practices that bar, delay, condition, or penalize sharing specific immigration- and custody-related information with federal authorities, and requires local jurisdictions to notify federal immigration authorities of scheduled and some unscheduled releases from criminal custody. Expands immunity for state and local officers who share information or transfer individuals for immigration enforcement, directs the Department of Homeland Security to respond to status inquiries, and gives the Attorney General authority to sue to enforce the rule and to make jurisdictions found to be in knowing violation ineligible for certain Department of Justice law-enforcement grants.