Ending Sanctuary Cities Act of 2021
Bill: S.875 | Sponsor: Sen. Kennedy, John (R-LA)
Policy area: Immigration

Summary:
Ending Sanctuary Cities Act of 2021
This bill makes state or local governments that violate immigration laws ineligible for federal financial assistance.
A governmental entity shall be ineligible if it	(1) violates federal law by prohibiting its officials from communicating with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) about the immigration status of any individual, (2) restricts compliance with DHS detainer requests, or (3) has any laws or policies that violate immigration laws. (A DHS detainer request is an order or request to a state or local government to temporarily hold or transport an alien for transfer into federal custody or notify DHS before releasing an alien from custody.)
A government or law enforcement officer that complies with a DHS detainer request shall be acting under the color of federal authority, for the purposes of liability or immunity in a lawsuit filed by the detained individual.
The bill makes it unlawful for a state or local government to discharge or discriminate against one of its law enforcement officers for complying with a DHS retainer request.


To make any city or county that has in effect any law or ordinance that 
 is in violation of Federal immigration law ineligible for any Federal 
                     grant, and for other purposes.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Ending Sanctuary Cities Act of 
2021''.

SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) The term ``detainer'' means any order or request by the 
        Secretary of Homeland Security--
                    (A) to temporarily hold an alien in custody until 
                such alien may be taken into Federal custody;
                    (B) to transport an alien for transfer to Federal 
                custody; or
                    (C) to notify the Secretary of Homeland Security 
                before the release of an alien from State or local 
                custody.
            (2) The term ``immigration laws'' has the meaning given 
        such term under section 101 of the Immigration and Nationality 
        Act (8 U.S.C. 1101).
            (3) The term ``unit of local government'' has the meaning 
        given such term under section 901(a)(3) of the Omnibus Crime 
        Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 10251(a)(3)).

SEC. 3. INELIGIBILITY FOR FEDERAL GRANTS OF CERTAIN JURISDICTIONS THAT 
              VIOLATE THE IMMIGRATION LAWS.

    (a) Ineligible Jurisdictions.--A State or unit of local government 
is an ineligible jurisdiction for purposes of this section if such 
State or unit of local government--
            (1) violates section 642 of the Illegal Immigration Reform 
        and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (8 U.S.C. 1373);
            (2) otherwise restricts compliance with a detainer issued 
        by the Secretary of Homeland Security; or
            (3) has any law or policy in effect that violates the 
        immigration laws.
    (b) Annual Determination of Ineligible Jurisdictions.--Not later 
than 1 year after the date of the enactment of this Act, and annually 
thereafter, the Secretary of Homeland Security shall--
            (1) determine which States and units of local government 
        are ineligible jurisdictions based on the criteria set forth in 
        subsection (a); and
            (2) submit a list of such ineligible jurisdictions, 
        including the specific criteria upon which each such 
        determination was based, to Congress.
    (c) Prohibition on Federal Financial Assistance.--A State or unit 
of local government may not receive any Federal financial assistance 
(as such term is defined in section 7501(a)(5) of title 31, United 
States Code) for the fiscal year following any fiscal year in which the 
Secretary of Homeland Security determines that such State or unit of 
local government is an ineligible jurisdiction under this section.

SEC. 4. LIMITATION ON LIABILITY FOR COMPLIANCE WITH DETAINER.

    A State or unit of local government, and any law enforcement 
officer of such State or unit of local government, acting in compliance 
with a detainer issued by the Secretary of Homeland Security, shall be 
considered to be acting under color of Federal authority for purposes 
of determining liability, and immunity from suit, in any civil action 
brought by the alien under Federal or State law.

SEC. 5. WORKPLACE PROTECTIONS FOR LAW ENFORCEMENT.

    Section 15(a) of the Fair Labor Standards Act (29 U.S.C. 215(a)) is 
amended--
            (1) in paragraph (5), by striking the period at the end and 
        inserting ``; or''; and
            (2) by adding at the end the following:
            ``(6) in the case of a State or unit of local government, 
        to discharge or in any other manner discriminate against any 
        law enforcement officer of that State or unit of local 
        government because such law enforcement officer has taken any 
        action to comply with a detainer (as such term is defined in 
        section 2 of the Ending Sanctuary Cities Act of 2021) issued by 
        the Secretary of Homeland Security.''.
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