Bill Allowing Victims to Sue Judges, Others Who Let Illegals Run Wild Is Quietly Advancing in Congress
A House bill that would let crime victims sue state and local officials who release illegal immigrants under federal detainers is sitting on the calendar for a possible post-election vote.
The measure is the Shut Down Sanctuary Policies Act of 2026, H.R. 7640. Republican Rep. Tom McClintock of California introduced it on Feb. 23.
The House placed it on the Union Calendar on March 12 as Calendar No. 465. Just the News reported Monday that the committee cleared it with little notice last month.
The provision Chairman Jim Jordan of Ohio called the bill’s sharpest tool is a private right of action. Victims, and the families of victims, could sue the cities, states, and officials who released the criminal illegal who harmed them.
The Congressional Research Service summary says the suit can be brought against a state or local government that, for example, released someone who was later convicted of the crime despite a detainer.
Jordan told Just the News the language would strip some of the civil immunity those officials now have. In some places that protection is absolute immunity, the broadest form of the doctrine.
“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,” he said.
“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.”
The rest of the bill is about cooperation and money. It would bar state and local governments from blocking their own employees from enforcing immigration law, working with federal agents, or asking about a person’s status.