House Republicans are pushing legislation that would let crime victims sue state and local governments that refuse to cooperate with federal immigration detainers, and they want it passed before the end of the year.
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH-04), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, says the Shut Down Sanctuary Policies Act of 2026, which the committee already approved earlier this year, is a priority for the lame-duck session of Congress that convenes after the midterm elections.
“So we got a good deal that we worked long and hard on. We just got to try to get it passed in the lame duck [period],” Jordan said.
What the bill would do
The legislation creates a private right of action allowing victims, or their families, to sue state and local governments and officials when certain aggravated felonies — including rape and murder — are committed by someone who had previously been released after a jurisdiction denied an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainer or otherwise declined to cooperate with ICE.
Jordan described the mechanism directly: “It allows people who’ve been harmed, where local political leaders tell the local law enforcement they can’t work with federal law enforcement, detainers aren’t honored … to go take that city, take that state to court.”
Victims would have 10 years to file suit, and plaintiffs who win would have their attorney fees covered. The bill includes a carve-out for local jurisdictions that denied a detainer because state law required them to do so; in that situation, liability would shift to the state and the state officials responsible for the policy rather than the local government.
Virginia in the crosshairs
Virginia is positioned as a likely target of the bill. One of Democratic Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s first actions after taking office this year was ending the commonwealth’s cooperation agreement with ICE. Since that decision, Fairfax County and its commonwealth’s attorney, Steve Descano, have drawn national attention as a focal point in the broader debate over sanctuary-style policies and crimes committed by people in the country illegally.
Supporters of the bill argue it would give victims’ families a legal avenue to hold officials accountable when sanctuary policies are followed by a release and a subsequent violent crime. Critics of sanctuary policies have pointed to such cases as evidence that the current system leaves victims with no recourse against the officials who set the policy.
If passed, the bill would significantly raise the financial and legal exposure facing states and localities that decline to honor ICE detainers, a shift Republicans say is intended to make noncooperation costlier.
