No Bailout for Sanctuary Cities Act
No Bailout for Sanctuary Cities Act would deny federal funding to jurisdictions that have policies preventing or limiting cooperation with federal immigration enforcement or information-sharing about individuals’ immigration status. Specifically, it defines “sanctuary jurisdictions” as states or substate entities that prohibit or restrict sharing citizenship or immigration-status information or refuse to comply with DHS detainer requests, with a narrow exception for policies protecting crime victims or witnesses. Once enacted, such sanctuary jurisdictions would be ineligible for any federal funds that would be used to benefit undocumented aliens (for example, funding for food, housing, healthcare, legal services, or transportation). The bill also requires the Department of Homeland Security to report annually on jurisdictions that fail to comply with the described information-sharing or detainer requests. In short, the measure seeks to financially penalize jurisdictions that limit cooperation with federal immigration enforcement and to incentivize alignment with DHS requests, by cutting off or restricting access to federal funds used to assist unauthorized immigrants.
Key Points
- 1Defines sanctuary jurisdictions as states or subdivisions that restrict or prohibit sharing immigration status information or complying with DHS detainer requests (with a small exception for victim/witness scenarios).
- 2Prohibits sanctuary jurisdictions from receiving any federal funds intended to benefit unauthorized aliens (food, shelter, healthcare, legal services, transportation, etc.), effective 60 days after enactment or at the start of the next fiscal year.
- 3Creates an annual reporting requirement: DHS must list jurisdictions that do not comply with DHS detainer requests or information-sharing requests, to the House and Senate Judiciary Committees.
- 4Includes a narrow exception to the definition: jurisdictions are not sanctuary jurisdictions solely because they do not share information or do not comply with detainer requests when the individual is a crime victim or witness.
- 5House introduction details: bill introduced in the 119th Congress by Rep. LaLota with several co-sponsors (as indicated in the bill text).