No Sanctuary Cities Act of 2026
Summary
What This Bill Does
The bill replaces 8 U.S.C. 1373 with a detailed information-sharing mandate. States and political subdivisions may not prohibit, delay, condition, penalize, or require approvals before law-enforcement, correctional, or custodial officials share immigration-status, custody-status, release-time, facility-location, transfer, or discharge information with DHS or other government entities. On DHS request for a specific individual, they must give 48-hour notice before scheduled release or immediate notice for unscheduled court-ordered release and hold the person up to 48 hours for DHS custody transfer. DHS must respond to status inquiries. The Attorney General may sue for declaratory or injunctive relief, and knowing violators may lose DOJ law-enforcement grants.
Who Benefits and How
DHS, ICE, and federal immigration-enforcement officials benefit from mandated access to custody and release information and a 48-hour transfer window. State and local officers who cooperate with immigration enforcement benefit from statutory immunity comparable to federal officers. Jurisdictions that already share information may face less competitive disadvantage for DOJ law-enforcement grants.
Who Bears the Burden and How
Sanctuary jurisdictions and state or local agencies with policies limiting immigration-status communication must repeal or stop enforcing those limits, provide release notices, maintain custody for up to 48 hours after unscheduled releases when requested, and risk DOJ litigation or law-enforcement grant ineligibility. Local officials and correctional agencies must process DHS requests and information sharing instead of relying on local approval or noncooperation policies.
Key Provisions
- Prohibits state and local policies that materially restrict immigration-status, custody-status, release, facility-location, transfer, or discharge information sharing with DHS or other government entities.
- Requires 48-hour scheduled-release notice to DHS and immediate notice plus up to 48 hours of custody for unscheduled court-ordered releases when DHS has requested notice on a specific individual.
- Directs DHS to answer federal, state, and local immigration-status inquiries made for lawful purposes.
- Authorizes Attorney General civil actions and allows knowing violators to be deemed ineligible for DOJ law-enforcement grants.
- Provides state and local law-enforcement officers immunity comparable to federal officers for covered immigration-information and custody-transfer duties.
Evidence Chain:
This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
At a Glance
What This Bill Does
Rewrites federal immigration-information-sharing rules to bar state and local policies that restrict communication with DHS, requires custody-release notices, authorizes Justice Department enforcement, and threatens law-enforcement grant eligibility for knowing violations.
Key Policy Areas
Immigration, Law Enforcement, Federal Grants
Primary Purpose
Rewrites federal immigration-information-sharing rules to bar state and local policies that restrict communication with DHS, requires custody-release notices, authorizes Justice Department enforcement, and threatens law-enforcement grant eligibility for knowing violations.
Policy Domains
Substantive provisions
Identified Gains
- Department of Homeland Security
- Immigration and Customs Enforcement
- State law enforcement officers
- Local law enforcement officers
Identified Costs
- Sanctuary jurisdictions
- State correctional agencies
- Local jail administrators
- Political subdivisions receiving Justice Department grants
Legislative Progress
In CommitteeReferred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.
Introduced in House
Mr. Carter of Georgia introduced the following bill; which was …
Stakeholder Effects
cui bono?How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.
Attorney General, Department of Homeland Security, Federal courts
Political subdivisions receiving Justice Department grants, Sanctuary jurisdictions, State correctional agencies
Local jail administrators, State law enforcement officers
Positive-direction: State law enforcement officers
Negative-direction: Local jail administrators
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "department"
- → Department of Homeland Security
- "the_attorney_general"
- → Attorney General
Key Definitions
Terms defined in this bill
Lawfully obtained law-enforcement, correctional, or custodial data including immigration status, custody status, release timing, facility location, transfer, or discharge information.
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology