I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2988 

To ensure State and local compliance with all Federal immigration detainers 

on aliens in custody, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 23, 2019 

Mr. GOODEN (for himself, Mr. SCALISE, Mr. WRIGHT, Mr. WEBER of Texas, 

Mr. WALKER, Mr. GAETZ, Mr. JOYCE of Pennsylvania, Mr. BABIN, Mr. 

TAYLOR, and Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition 

to the Committee on Education and Labor, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such 

provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To ensure State and local compliance with all Federal immigration detainers on aliens in custody, and for other 

purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Protecting American 

5 Lives Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. CLARIFYING THE AUTHORITY OF ICE DETAINERS. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Except as otherwise provided by 

3 Federal law or rule of procedure, the Secretary shall exe4 cute all lawful writs, process, and orders issued under the 

5 authority of the United States, and shall command all nec6 essary assistance to execute the Secretary’s duties. 

7 (b) STATE AND LOCAL COOPERATION WITH DHS 

8 DETAINERS.—A State, or a political subdivision of a 

9 State, that has in effect a statute or policy or practice 

10 providing that it not comply with any Department de11 tainer ordering that it temporarily hold an alien in their 

12 custody so that the alien may be taken into Federal cus13 tody, or transport the alien for transfer to Federal cus14 tody, shall not be eligible to receive— 

15 (1) any of the funds that would otherwise be al16 located to the State or political subdivision under 

17 section 241(i) of the Immigration and Nationality 

18 Act (8 U.S.C. 1231(i)), the ‘‘Cops on the Beat’’ pro19 gram under part Q of title I of the Omnibus Crime 

20 Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 

21 10381 et seq.), or the Edward Byrne Memorial Jus22 tice Assistance Grant Program under subpart 1 of 

23 part E of title I of the Omnibus Crime Control and 

24 Safe Streets Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 10151 et seq.); 

25 or 


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1 (2) any other grant administered by the De2 partment of Justice that is substantially related to 

3 law enforcement (including enforcement of the immi4 gration laws), immigration, enforcement of the im5 migration laws, or naturalization or administered by 

6 the Department of Homeland Security that is sub7 stantially related to immigration, the enforcement of 

8 the immigration laws, or naturalization. 

9 (c) LIMITATION ON LIABILITY FOR COMPLIANCE

10 WITH DETAINER.—A State or unit of local government, 

11 and any law enforcement officer of such State or unit of 

12 local government, acting in compliance with a detainer 

13 issued by the Secretary of Homeland Security, shall be 

14 considered to be acting under color of Federal authority 

15 for purposes of determining liability, and immunity from 

16 suit, in any civil action brought by the alien under Federal 

17 or State law. 

18 (d) PROBABLE CAUSE.—It is the sense of Congress 

19 that the Department has probable cause to believe that 

20 an alien is inadmissible or deportable when it issues a de21 tainer regarding such alien under the standards in place 

22 on the date of introduction of this Act. 

23 (e) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

24 (1) DEPARTMENT.—The term ‘‘Department’’ 

25 means the Department of Homeland Security. 


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1 (2) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

2 the Secretary of Homeland Security. 

3 (3) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ has the mean4 ing given to such term in section 101(a)(36) of the 

5 Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 

6 1101(a)(36)). 

7 SEC. 3. INFORMATION SHARING REGARDING CRIMINAL 

8 ALIENS. 

9 Section 642 of the Illegal Immigration Reform and 

10 Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (8 U.S.C. 1373) is 

11 amended— 

12 (1) by striking ‘‘Immigration and Naturaliza13 tion Service’’ each place it appears and inserting 

14 ‘‘Department of Homeland Security’’; 

15 (2) in subsection (a), by striking ‘‘may’’ and in16 serting ‘‘shall’’; 

17 (3) in subsection (b)— 

18 (A) by striking ‘‘no person or agency may’’ 

19 and inserting ‘‘a person or agency shall not’’; 

20 and 

21 (B) by striking ‘‘doing any of the following 

22 with respect to information’’ and inserting ‘‘un23 dertaking any of the following law enforcement 

24 activities’’; 


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1 (4) by striking paragraphs (1) through (3) and 

2 inserting the following: 

3 ‘‘(1) Notifying the Federal Government regard4 ing the presence of inadmissible and deportable 

5 aliens who are encountered by law enforcement per6 sonnel of a State or political subdivision of a State. 

7 ‘‘(2) Complying with requests for information 

8 from Federal law enforcement.’’; and 

9 (5) by adding at the end the following: 

10 ‘‘(d) SANCTUARY POLICIES.—Notwithstanding any 

11 other provision of Federal, State, or local law, a Federal, 

12 State, or local government entity or official shall not issue 

13 in the form of resolutions, ordinances, administrative ac14 tions, general or special orders, or departmental policies 

15 that violate Federal law or restrict a State or political sub16 division of a State from complying with Federal law or 

17 coordinating with Federal law enforcement. 

18 ‘‘(e) COMPLIANCE.— 

19 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—A State, or a political sub20 division of a State, that has in effect a statute, pol21 icy, or practice that prohibits law enforcement offi22 cers of the State, or of a political subdivision of the 

23 State, from assisting or cooperating with Federal 

24 immigration law enforcement in the course of carVerDate Sep 11 2014 21:39 Jun 10, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2988.IH H2988

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1 rying out the officers’ routine law enforcement du2 ties shall not be eligible to receive— 

3 ‘‘(A) any of the funds that would otherwise 

4 be allocated to the State or political subdivision 

5 under section 241(i) of the Immigration and 

6 Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1231(i)), the ‘Cops 

7 on the Beat’ program under part Q of title I of 

8 the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets 

9 Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 10381 et seq.), or the 

10 Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance 

11 Grant Program under subpart 1 of part E of 

12 title I of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe 

13 Streets Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 10151 et seq.); 

14 or 

15 ‘‘(B) any other grant administered by the 

16 Department of Justice that is substantially re17 lated to law enforcement (including enforcement 

18 of the immigration laws), immigration, enforce19 ment of the immigration laws, or naturalization 

20 or administered by the Department of Home21 land Security that is substantially related to im22 migration, the enforcement of the immigration 

23 laws, or naturalization. 

24 ‘‘(2) ANNUAL DETERMINATION.— 


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1 ‘‘(A) REQUIREMENT.—Not later than 

2 March 1 of each year, the Secretary of Home3 land Security shall determine which States or 

4 political subdivisions of a State are not in com5 pliance with this section and report such deter6 mination to Congress. 

7 ‘‘(B) INELIGIBILITY FOR FINANCIAL AS8 SISTANCE.—Any jurisdiction that the Secretary 

9 determines is not in compliance under subpara10 graph (A)— 

11 ‘‘(i) shall be ineligible to receive Fed12 eral financial assistance as provided in 

13 paragraph (1) for a minimum period of 1 

14 year; and 

15 ‘‘(ii) shall only become eligible for 

16 such assistance after the Secretary certifies 

17 that the jurisdiction is in compliance. 

18 ‘‘(3) REALLOCATION.—Any funds that are not 

19 allocated to a State or to a political subdivision of 

20 a State, due to the failure of the State, or of the po21 litical subdivision of the State, to comply with this 

22 section shall be reallocated to States, or to political 

23 subdivisions of States, that comply with such sub24 section. 


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1 ‘‘(f) STATE AND LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT PROVI2 SION OF INFORMATION ABOUT APPREHENDED ALIENS.— 

3 ‘‘(1) PROVISION OF INFORMATION.—In compli4 ance with this section and section 434 of the Per5 sonal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Rec6 onciliation Act of 1996 (8 U.S.C. 1644), each State, 

7 and each political subdivision of a State, shall pro8 vide the Secretary of Homeland Security in a timely 

9 manner with identifying information with respect to 

10 each alien in the custody of the State, or a political 

11 subdivision of the State, who is believed to be inad12 missible or deportable. 

13 ‘‘(2) ANNUAL REPORT ON COMPLIANCE.—Not 

14 later than March 1 of each year, the Secretary shall 

15 determine which States, or the political subdivisions 

16 of States, are not in compliance with this section 

17 and submit such determination to Congress. 

18 ‘‘(g) REIMBURSEMENT.—The Secretary of Homeland 

19 Security shall reimburse States, and political subdivisions 

20 of a State, for all reasonable costs, as determined by the 

21 Secretary, incurred by the State, or the political subdivi22 sion of a State, as a result of providing information under 

23 subsection (f)(1). 


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1 ‘‘(h) CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this section shall 

2 require law enforcement officials of a State, or from polit3 ical subdivisions of a State— 

4 ‘‘(1) to provide the Secretary of Homeland Se5 curity with information related to a victim of a 

6 crime or witness to a criminal offense; or 

7 ‘‘(2) to otherwise report or arrest such a victim 

8 or witness.’’. 

9 SEC. 4. ILLEGAL REENTRY. 

10 Section 276 of the Immigration and Nationality Act 

11 (8 U.S.C. 1326) is amended— 

12 (1) in subsection (a), in the undesignated mat13 ter following paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘not more 

14 than 2 years,’’ and inserting ‘‘not less than 5 

15 years,’’; and 

16 (2) in subsection (b)— 

17 (A) in paragraph (1), by inserting ‘‘not 

18 less than 5 years and’’ after ‘‘imprisoned’’; 

19 (B) in paragraph (2), by inserting ‘‘not 

20 less than 5 years and’’ after ‘‘imprisoned’’; 

21 (C) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘sen22 tence.’’ and inserting ‘‘sentence;’’; and 

23 (D) in paragraph (4), by inserting ‘‘not 

24 less than 5 years and’’ after ‘‘imprisoned for’’. 


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1 SEC. 5. WORKPLACE PROTECTIONS FOR LAW ENFORCE2 MENT. 

3 Section 15(a) of the Fair Labor Standards Act (29 

4 U.S.C. 215(a)) is amended— 

5 (1) in paragraph (5), by striking the period at 

6 the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

7 (2) by adding at the end the following: 

8 ‘‘(6) in the case of a State or unit of local gov9 ernment, to discharge or in any other manner dis10 criminate against any law enforcement officer of 

11 that State or unit of local government because such 

12 law enforcement officer has taken any action to com13 ply with a detainer issued by the Secretary of Home14 land Security.’’. 

15 SEC. 6. SEVERABILITY. 

16 If any provision of this Act, any amendment made 

17 by this Act, or the application of such provision to any 

18 person or circumstance, is held invalid, the remainder of 

19 this Act, the amendments made by this Act, and the appli20 cation of such provision to other persons not similarly situ21 ated or to other circumstances, shall not be affected by 

22 such invalidation. 

Æ 


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