Federal transportation funds weaponized to force immigration enforcement cooperation
H.R. 4565 — No DOT Funds for Sanctuary Cities Act · Filed by Dusty Johnson (R-SD) · 13 cosponsors · Introduced Jul 21, 2025 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill prohibits the Department of Transportation from giving grants, awards, or federal funds to any city or state that has policies restricting cooperation with federal immigration enforcement. The bill defines 'sanctuary city' as any jurisdiction that limits sharing immigration-status information with federal authorities or refuses to comply with federal immigration detention requests. The Secretary of Transportation can waive the ban only by certifying to Congress that funding serves the national interest.
Why we flagged it
The bill's operative mechanism is not transportation policy but conditional funding tied to immigration enforcement compliance. It uses DOT appropriations as a lever to force jurisdictions to participate in federal immigration enforcement, regardless of local law-enforcement priorities or community preferences.
What the text implies
- Sanctuary cities include jurisdictions with policies protecting privacy, limiting police-immigration enforcement entanglement, or prioritizing community trust over federal immigration cooperation. Defunding them may reduce transportation safety and economic mobility in communities that have chosen different law-enforcement values.
- The waiver mechanism (15-day notice to Congress) creates a political veto point: Congress can block waivers by inaction or objection, converting the Secretary's discretion into a de facto legislative override.
- Federal transportation funding often supports transit systems serving low-income and immigrant communities. Defunding sanctuary cities may disproportionately harm the mobility of the populations most affected by immigration enforcement.
- The bill does not define 'sanctuary city' by formal designation but by policy effect. A state or city could lose funding for a single ordinance or practice, even if it is not self-identified as a sanctuary jurisdiction.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
Residents of sanctuary cities lose access to federal transportation infrastructure funding (roads, transit, bridges) based on their jurisdiction's immigration policies, not on transportation need or merit. This weaponizes federal transportation dollars to coerce immigration-enforcement cooperation, reducing public infrastructure investment in affected communities regardless of local transportation priorities.
Named in the bill
Department of Transportation, Secretary of Transportation, Sanctuary cities, Department of Homeland Security, House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, Immigration and Nationality Act (sections 236, 287)
Where it stands
13 cosponsors: 13 Republicans.
- Jul 21, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Jul 21, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (1,447 characters) on Sep 28, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
As of — page rendered 2026-10-20.
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