Shalini Thakur did everything she was supposed to do.
When a man started stalking her, she went to the police. She found an Apple AirTag hidden under the hood of her car. He deflated her tires, followed her to work, copied her apartment key and threatened to shoot anyone she spent time with. In May, she got a restraining order. He kept coming anyway.
"She could have been saved," her mother, Sudesh Kumari, said. "She told police so many times. She called them, but nobody did anything."
On a Tuesday in September, outside a Panera Bread in Sacramento County, the man caught up with her. Thakur, 38, tried to run. According to the Department of Homeland Security, he chased her down and shot her in the head. When police cornered him on Highway 50, he killed himself.
His name was Rohit Rohit. He was a 22-year-old Indian national who crossed the border illegally through Arizona in August 2023. Border Patrol arrested him and then let him go under a Biden administration policy that released illegal immigrants with nothing more than a court date. He ended up in Sacramento delivering for DoorDash, in a state whose Democratic leaders have made it illegal for local police to work hand in hand with federal immigration agents.
California's sanctuary law bars local police from asking about immigration status. Even if they had arrested him for violating the restraining order, the same law would in most cases have kept them from handing him to ICE.
Thakur was an only child, and her father died two years ago. Her mother now plans to go back to India, a country she believes is safer than California.
House Republicans want to make the politicians behind policies like California's pay for what they've done.
The Shut Down Sanctuary Policies Act, H.R. 7640, was introduced by Rep. Tom McClintock, R-Calif., and cleared the House Judiciary Committee 22-11 in March. Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, plans to bring it to the House floor during the lame-duck session after the midterms. "We just got to try to get it passed in the lame duck," he said.
The bill's key provision gives victims the right to sue. If a city or state releases a criminal illegal alien instead of honoring a federal immigration detainer, and that person goes on to hurt someone, the victim or the victim's family can take that city or state to federal court. "It allows people who've been harmed, where local political leaders tell the local law enforcement they can't work with federal law enforcement, detainers aren't honored … to go take that city, take that state to court," Jordan said. The bill would also strip away some of the legal immunity that protects state and local officials, some of whom now enjoy "absolute immunity." It would move federal law enforcement grants away from sanctuary jurisdictions and toward communities that cooperate with ICE.
Sanctuary policy is a blue-city and blue-state creation. Democratic lawmakers passed California's sanctuary law, the so-called California Values Act, and Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown signed it in 2017. It ties the hands of local police and sheriffs, even the ones who want to help. "All of the local sheriffs in my district want desperately to cooperate with ICE to enforce our immigration laws," McClintock said. Democrats in Sacramento won't let them.
The same thing is happening in Democrat-run cities across the country. In 2025, ICE issued 201,340 detainers asking local jails to hold criminal illegal aliens for pickup, and 17,864 were refused. New York alone turned away 16,070 between January 2025 and early October 2026. Each of those refusals was a criminal released back onto the street when federal agents had asked for him to be held.
"Democrat-run sanctuary jurisdictions protect criminal illegal aliens and threaten public safety," Jordan said. DHS put it more bluntly after Thakur was killed: "Sanctuary politicians must put an end to reckless policies that play Russian roulette with American lives."
For years, Democratic mayors and governors have paid nothing for that gamble. When a released criminal kills someone, they hold a press conference, call it a tragedy and blame Washington. Defying ICE has made them heroes with their activist base. Families like Thakur's have paid the price.
H.R. 7640 would put the cost back on the people who make the decisions. A city that releases a criminal instead of handing him to ICE could face a lawsuit from the victim's family and a smaller law enforcement budget. Democratic officials would face a choice: start cooperating with ICE and make their cities safer, or keep the sanctuary policies and explain to their taxpayers why the city is paying for the damage.
Shalini Thakur called the police for help again and again. Her mother is leaving America because she thinks India is safer. The bill is expected to come up for a House vote in the lame-duck session.