II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 185
To provide a civil remedy for individuals harmed by sanctuary jurisdiction
policies, and for other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
JANUARY22, 2025
Mr. T
ILLIS(for himself, Mr. GRAHAM, Mrs. BRITT, Mr. CRUZ, Mr.
L
ANKFORD, Mr. CASSIDY, Mr. CRAMER, Mr. MARSHALL, Mr. SHEEHY,
Mr. R
OUNDS, and Mr. BUDD) introduced the following bill; which was
read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
A BILL
To provide a civil remedy for individuals harmed by
sanctuary jurisdiction policies, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Justice for Victims 4
of Sanctuary Cities Act of 2025’’. 5
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 6
In this Act: 7
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•S 185 IS
(1) ALIEN.—The term ‘‘alien’’ has the meaning 1
given such term in section 101(a)(3) of the Immi-2
gration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(3)). 3
(2) S
ANCTUARY JURISDICTION .— 4
(A) I
N GENERAL.—Except as provided in 5
subparagraph (B), the term ‘‘sanctuary juris-6
diction’’ means any State or political subdivi-7
sion of a State that has in effect a statute, ordi-8
nance, policy, or practice that prohibits or re-9
stricts any government entity or official from— 10
(i) sending, receiving, maintaining, or 11
exchanging with any Federal, State, or 12
local government entity information re-13
garding the citizenship or immigration sta-14
tus of any alien; or 15
(ii) complying with a request lawfully 16
made by the Department of Homeland Se-17
curity under section 236 or 287 of the Im-18
migration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 19
1226 and 1357) to comply with a detainer 20
for, or notify about the release of, an alien. 21
(B) E
XCEPTION.—A State or political sub-22
division of a State shall not be deemed a sanc-23
tuary jurisdiction based solely on having a pol-24
icy whereby its officials will not share informa-25
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•S 185 IS
tion regarding, or comply with a request made 1
by the Department of Homeland Security under 2
section 236 or 287 of the Immigration and Na-3
tionality Act (8 U.S.C. 1226 and 1357) to com-4
ply with a detainer regarding, an alien who 5
comes forward as a victim or a witness to a 6
criminal offense. 7
(3) S
ANCTUARY POLICY.—The term ‘‘sanctuary 8
policy’’ means a statute, ordinance, policy, or prac-9
tice referred to in paragraph (2)(A). 10
(4) S
ANCTUARY-RELATED CIVIL ACTION .—The 11
term ‘‘sanctuary-related civil action’’ means a civil 12
action brought against a sanctuary jurisdiction by 13
an individual (or the estate, survivors, or heirs of 14
such individual) who— 15
(A) is injured or harmed by an alien who 16
benefitted from a sanctuary policy of such sanc-17
tuary jurisdiction; and 18
(B) would not have been so injured or 19
harmed if such alien had not been so benefitted. 20
SEC. 3. CIVIL ACTION FOR HARM BY AN ALIEN THAT BENE-21
FITTED FROM A SANCTUARY POLICY. 22
(a) P
RIVATERIGHT OFACTION.— 23
(1) C
AUSE OF ACTION.—Any individual, or a 24
spouse, parent, or child of such individual (if the in-25
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•S 185 IS
dividual is deceased or permanently incapacitated), 1
who is the victim of a murder, rape, or any felony 2
(as defined by the State in which the crime oc-3
curred) for which an alien has been arrested, con-4
victed, or sentenced to a term of imprisonment of at 5
least 1 year, may bring an action for compensatory 6
damages against a State or a political subdivision of 7
a State, in the appropriate Federal or State court, 8
if such State or political subdivision failed— 9
(A) to comply with a request with respect 10
to an alien that was lawfully made by the De-11
partment of Homeland Security pursuant to 12
section 236 or 287 of the Immigration and Na-13
tionality Act (8 U.S.C. 1226 and 1357); and 14
(B)(i) to comply with a detainer for such 15
alien; or 16
(ii) to notify the Department about the re-17
lease of such alien. 18
(2) S
TATUTE OF LIMITATIONS .—An action de-19
scribed in paragraph (1) may not be brought later 20
than 10 years after the later of— 21
(A) the occurrence of the crime referred to 22
in paragraph (1); or 23
(B) the death of a person that resulted 24
from such crime. 25
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(3) ATTORNEY’S FEE AND OTHER COSTS .—In 1
any action or proceeding under paragraph (1), the 2
court shall allow a prevailing plaintiff to recover a 3
reasonable attorney’s fee as part of the costs of the 4
litigation, which shall include any applicable expert 5
fees. 6
(b) W
AIVER OFIMMUNITY.— 7
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Any State or political sub-8
division of a State that accepts a grant described in 9
paragraph (2) from the Federal Government shall 10
agree, as a condition of receiving such grant, to 11
waive any immunity of such State or political sub-12
division relating to a sanctuary-related civil action. 13
(2) G
RANTS DESCRIBED.—The grants described 14
in this paragraph are— 15
(A) a grant for public works and economic 16
development under section 201(a) of the Public 17
Works and Economic Development Act of 1965 18
(42 U.S.C. 3141(a)); 19
(B) a grant for planning and administra-20
tive expenses under section 203(a) of such Act 21
(42 U.S.C. 3143(a)); 22
(C) a supplemental grant under section 23
205(b) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 3145(b)); 24
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(D) a grant for training, research, and 1
technical assistance under section 207(a) of 2
such Act (42 U.S.C. 3147(a)); and 3
(E) except as provided in paragraph (3), a 4
community development block grant made pur-5
suant to title I of the Housing and Community 6
Development Act of 1974 (42 U.S.C. 5301 et 7
seq.). 8
(3) E
XCEPTION.—Grants described in para-9
graph (2)(E) shall not include any disaster relief 10
grants to address the damage in an area for which 11
the President has declared a disaster under title IV 12
of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emer-13
gency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5170 et seq.). 14
SEC. 4. ENSURING COOPERATION BETWEEN FEDERAL AND 15
LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS TO 16
SAFEGUARD OUR COMMUNITIES. 17
(a) A
UTHORITYTOCOOPERATEWITHFEDERALOF-18
FICIALS.—A State, a political subdivision of a State, or 19
an officer, employee, or agent of such State or political 20
subdivision that complies with a detainer issued by the De-21
partment of Homeland Security pursuant to section 236 22
or 287 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 23
1226 and 1357)— 24
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(1) shall be deemed to be acting as an agent of 1
the Department of Homeland Security; and 2
(2) shall comply with section 287(d) of the Im-3
migration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1357(d)) 4
and section 287.5(d) of title 8, Code of Federal Reg-5
ulations. 6
(b) L
EGALPROCEEDINGS.—In any legal proceeding 7
brought against a State, a political subdivision of State, 8
or an officer, employee, or agent of such State or political 9
subdivision challenging the legality of the seizure or deten-10
tion of an individual pursuant to a detainer issued by the 11
Department of Homeland Security under section 236 or 12
287 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 13
1226 and 1357)— 14
(1) the State or political subdivision of a State 15
shall not be liable for any action taken in accordance 16
with the detainer; and 17
(2) if the actions of the officer, employee, or 18
agent of the State or political subdivision were taken 19
in accordance with the detainer— 20
(A) the officer, employee, or agent shall be 21
deemed— 22
(i) to be an employee of the Federal 23
Government and an investigative or law 24
enforcement officer; and 25
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(ii) to have been acting within the 1
scope of his or her employment under sec-2
tion 1346(b) of title 28, United States 3
Code, and chapter 171 of such title; 4
(B) section 1346(b) of title 28, United 5
States Code, shall provide the exclusive remedy 6
for the plaintiff; and 7
(C) the United States shall be substituted 8
as the defendant in such proceeding. 9
(c) R
ULE OFCONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec-10
tion may be construed to provide immunity to any person 11
who knowingly violates the civil or constitutional rights of 12
an individual. 13
Æ
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