The Laken Riley Act Represents Basic Common Sense | Opinion

President Donald Trump will soon sign the Laken Riley Act, which requires U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to take custody of illegal immigrants who are charged with crimes. This will prevent so-called sanctuary cities and states with weak criminal law enforcement from shielding illegals from federal authorities and releasing dangerous people into American neighborhoods. It also allows states to sue the federal government if damages result from their failure to take custody of criminal illegal aliens. The bill passed the Senate with 64 votes, signaling a major change in immigration politics.

The bill represents basic common sense. Billions of people want to come to the United States, so if we accept any immigrants at all, it makes sense for them to be the best the world has to offer, not shoplifters and murderers. The Laken Riley Act allows ICE to correct mistakes that permitted criminal aliens who were allowed to cross the border to prey on Americans.

The next step for ICE is to deport aliens that they have detained because of criminal charges. Unless Congress is able to streamline the deportation process, there will be legal challenges. Immigration lawyers, many hired by large advocacy groups, will do what they can to delay and defeat the legal process of deportation.

We all accept legal bottlenecks as excuses for delays. Why didn't that deal close last week? Too often, the answer to that question is that it is in legal review, and will be delayed another week. Fortunately, technology has helped speed up the legal process. Fax machines first made it easy to exchange documents quickly, and now companies like DocuSign have made it easier to gather signatures on legal documents. As he enforces the Laken Riley Act, President Trump will discover legal bottlenecks that immigration lawyers will exploit.

Just as it has in business transactions, technology can help speed up the legal process of immigration law enforcement. The problems are different, however, than those that businesspeople encounter as they negotiate deals. Detained immigrants must be given access to attorneys, documents, and courts. The prison environment is very different from a corporate office or executive meeting by Zoom. Just getting in to see a client in prison can be an all-day ordeal for a lawyer. Lockdowns, transfers, and isolated locations of incarceration facilities often make access difficult. Making things even harder, prisons have good reasons to limit and monitor internet access for prisoners, making it difficult to utilize many modern tools that streamline legal processes.

Fortunately, new tools designed for the prison environment are now available. Law VR, for example, uses virtual reality to connect prisoners, their lawyers, and courts. In a virtual reality headset, prisoners can meet with attorneys, appear in court, read and sign documents and review evidence. Instead of a hearing taking days while a prisoner is transported, sometimes housed remotely and then transported back, appearances in court can be virtual and accomplished in hours or minutes instead of days. Prisoners can meet with their attorneys in a private and secure environment, with no danger of internet access being abused. Documents can be managed, read, discussed and signed without papers being transported and then passed through security checks. Prison security is enhanced by these tools, because prisoner transportation is dangerous, and can be avoided using virtual reality meetings and court appearances. Prison space can be better utilized, since secure meeting rooms are no longer needed.

The use of modern technology to manage legal interactions in prisons has the potential to dramatically streamline the entire deportation process as ICE processes the criminal illegal immigrants that will soon be detained because of the Laken Riley Act. After illegal immigrants charged with crimes other than illegal entry are processed, millions of other illegal aliens will be detained and processed for deportation, making these tools even more important.

President Trump won reelection by making bold promises, and new tools will make it possible for them to be implemented quickly and efficiently.

David Barker was an economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and adjunct professor for University of Chicago and University of Iowa. He is partner at Barker Cos. and co-founder of Promising People.

John L. Evans Jr., EdD, is co-founder of Promising People.

The views expressed in this article are the writers' own.