The Sanctuary City Accountability Act would allow American citizens to sue cities and states that have policies limiting cooperation with federal immigration enforcement. Under this bill, if an undocumented immigrant commits a crime against a U.S. citizen or their family member in a "sanctuary jurisdiction"—defined as any state or local government that restricts immigration enforcement cooperation—the victim could file a civil lawsuit seeking money damages or court orders. The bill defines sanctuary jurisdictions as those that refuse to comply with federal immigration detention requests, impose conditions on such compliance, deny federal immigration officers access to interview detained immigrants, or obstruct information sharing between local and federal immigration authorities. There is no specified funding amount or implementation timeline in the legislation. This would represent a significant expansion of private legal actions against local governments based on their immigration enforcement policies.
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