Federal police funding now tied to immigration enforcement cooperation
H.R. 8077 — 287(g) Cooperation Act of 2026 · Filed by Ben Cline (R-VA) · 16 cosponsors · Introduced Mar 25, 2026 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill makes participation in the federal 287(g) immigration enforcement program a mandatory condition for police departments to receive federal COPS grants. Any state or local law enforcement agency that does not sign a memorandum of agreement with Immigration and Customs Enforcement within 180 days of enactment becomes ineligible for COPS funding—a major source of federal money for local policing. The bill applies to all grant applications starting in fiscal year 2027.
Why we flagged it
The bill's operative mechanism is not a direct immigration policy but a funding condition that leverages federal COPS grants to compel local police participation in 287(g) immigration enforcement. It weaponizes community-policing money to achieve immigration policy goals, making it functionally a coercive mandate disguised as a grant eligibility rule.
What the text implies
- Police departments in sanctuary jurisdictions or those with policies limiting immigration enforcement will face a binary choice: abandon their local immigration policies or lose federal community-policing funding, effectively federalizing local immigration enforcement through financial coercion.
- The 180-day deadline is extremely tight for agencies to negotiate and execute a 287(g) MOA, potentially forcing rushed decisions without full community input or legal review.
- COPS grants fund community policing, youth intervention, and officer hiring—programs that serve all residents regardless of immigration status. Conditioning these grants on immigration enforcement participation may reduce public trust in police among immigrant communities, undermining the community-policing mission itself.
- The bill creates a two-tier policing system: jurisdictions that cooperate with 287(g) retain federal funding; those that don't lose it, potentially widening disparities in police resources across regions with different immigration policies.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
Citizens in jurisdictions whose police departments decline 287(g) participation lose access to federal COPS grants, which fund community policing, youth programs, and officer hiring. The bill coerces immigration enforcement participation by weaponizing a public-safety funding stream, creating a false choice between community policing and immigration cooperation. This restricts citizens' access to a public benefit based on a separate policy mandate.
Who stands to gain
- Immigration and Customs Enforcement (gains enforcement cooperation and resource leverage)
- Police departments in jurisdictions that adopt 287(g) (retain COPS grant eligibility)
Named in the bill
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Department of Justice (DOJ), Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), Section 287(g) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, State and local law enforcement agencies
Where it stands
16 cosponsors: 16 Republicans.
- Mar 25, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Mar 25, 2026 — Referred to House Committee on the Judiciary · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary”
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 (1,351 characters) on Apr 14, 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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