The Laken Riley Act is the first bill that will come to President Donald Trump’s desk for signature as the 47th President.
Passed with bipartisan support, the bill:
- Mandates the detention and possible deportation of migrants who enter the country without authorization and are charged with, arrested for, or convicted of:
- Theft-related crimes, including burglary, theft, larceny, and shoplifting
- Assaulting a police officer
- Crimes resulting in death or serious bodily injury, including drunk driving that results in death or serious bodily injury
- Gives states the right to sue the federal government if an individual with uncertain legal status is paroled into the country and commits a crime against a state or an individual (causing physical or financial harm “in excess of $100”)
Three criticisms of the bill are:
- Individuals (who may be innocent) can be detained and deported even if they have not been convicted of a crime
- It does not include funding, but enactment will require a significant increase in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) capabilities for enforcement and detention facilities, including an estimated cost of $27 billion (up from $3.2 billion) in the first year
- ICE estimates 110,000 people would be eligible for detention under the bill
- ICE also believes it would need to expand detention beds to 151,500, up from 41,500
- It focuses on lesser offenders, making it difficult for ICE to go after more egregious offenders
The Laken Riley bill is named after a Georgia nursing student who was killed by an undocumented immigrant who had previously been convicted of shoplifting. Although research indicates that immigrants commit fewer crimes than those born in the United States, Republicans maintained that if this bill had been in effect, Ms. Riley would not have been murdered.