5. Department of Homeland Security · Notable · Needs Congress
Require detainer compliance and penalize sanctuary jurisdictions
Printed page 150 5. Department of Homeland Security
“Congress should require compliance with immigration detainers to the maximum extent consistent with the Tenth Amendment and set financial disincentives for jurisdictions that implement either official or unofficial sanctuary policies.”
What has happened
- Not started
Congress has legislated around sanctuary jurisdictions without doing either thing the Quote asks. The Laken Riley Act requires the Secretary to issue a detainer for certain aliens and to take custody, which binds DHS rather than localities. Public Law 119-98 section 202(9) sets aside not less than $350 million for ICE to arrest people in jurisdictions that are not "qualified cooperating jurisdictions" — paying the federal government to work around non-compliance rather than requiring compliance or penalizing the jurisdiction. No financial disincentive on sanctuary jurisdictions has been enacted.
Research log
What was searched, and what didn’t count as evidence
Research notes
A Requires-Congress ask with two halves — mandatory detainer compliance and financial disincentives for sanctuary jurisdictions. Neither was enacted, though Congress twice legislated nearby.
Searched, in the federal records we keep (fetched 2026-08-28): presidential documents, final rules, proposed rules and notices in the Federal Register, filtered to DHS and its components; bills in Congress and public laws, from congress.gov; White House presidential actions; and federal court dockets (CourtListener), including the bulk snapshot of 1.2 million dockets. More than twenty sanctuary-city bills were introduced in the window (No Bailout for Sanctuary Cities Act, Stop Dangerous Sanctuary Cities Act, End Sanctuary Cities Act of 2026, Sanctuary City Elimination Act and others). None passed either chamber; the furthest any traveled was H.R. 7640, placed on the Union Calendar on 2026-03-12, which under the leveling rules is still not started.
- Action
- restrict
- Object
- immigration detainer compliance and sanctuary jurisdictions
- ID
- 362