On Monday, the Senate passed the Laken Riley Act, its first move after President Trump's inauguration. The measure will now go back to the House, where it is expected to pass, and will probably be the first piece of legislation the new president signs into law. The bipartisan bill is named after the Georgia nursing student who was murdered by an undocumented migrant last year.
It's no surprise that Republicans supported this measure, as it aims to crack down on migrant crime. What's mystifying is why some Democrats got behind this bill to hand Trump a victory on his signature issue. The Laken Riley Act is legally, logistically, and constitutionally unsound—and misguided Democrats helped make it happen.
The Laken Riley Act requires the Department of Homeland Security to jail undocumented immigrants accused of burglary and theft, putting them on track for deportation. The key word here is accused. Under the measure's provisions, people charged with minor crimes can be locked up without bail before they are convicted, even if charges against them are dropped. This flies in the face of the presumption of innocence, and violates due process, which the Supreme Court has ruled applies to undocumented immigrants.
By forcing federal authorities to detain people charged with minor crimes, the Laken Riley Act will impede Homeland Security's efforts to make our communities safer. The more time that immigration agents spend jailing and processing an undocumented person who shoplifted shampoo, the less time they will have to focus on violent criminals, traffickers, and drug dealers.
Worse, the Laken Riley Act allows state attorneys general to sue the government over everything from individual immigration enforcement decisions to immigration policies. While the Supreme Court has repeatedly found that the federal government has exclusive authority over immigration, this bill lets states meddle in immigration policy. A state attorney general upset about immigration policy could sue to force the federal government to halt legal immigration from an entire country. Not only will this upend our separation of powers in government, it's a recipe for more confusion and chaos in our immigration system.
Why would 48 House Democrats, along with 12 senators like Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.), Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), and Mark Warner (D-Va.) support this measure?
Because political survival seems to be more important to them than legal and civil rights. Reeling from Trump's presidential victory, these Democrats want to show that they can be tough on illegal immigration. How disappointing that they embraced a bill predicated on the unfounded link between migrants and criminality. It is this sort of political cowardice that leads progressives to feel discouraged by their own party.
It is especially troubling that Democratic senators from Arizona and Nevada, states with significant Latino populations, got behind this measure. The broad language of the Laken Riley Act makes it ripe for abuse and racial profiling. Anyone with a grievance or grudge against an undocumented immigrant could potentially have them jailed, based on an alleged petty offense.
"I support this (Act) because federal authorities need to protect our communities from criminals," Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) said in a statement. "I'm committed to working with Republicans and Democrats on solutions to secure our border and fix our broken immigration system." Such talk of bipartisanship is nice, only the new law won't help achieve those goals. In December, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) warned Congress that, without emergency funding, the Act could force it to release thousands of detained migrants, including some deemed to be public safety threats.
True, voters are moving more to the right on immigration. But a 2024 Gallup polling reveals that about two-thirds of Americans think immigration is a good thing for the country, and 70 percent still favor a path to citizenship for the undocumented. So the public wants meaningful immigration solutions. In contrast, tying major changes in our system to a single incident is no basis for sound policy.
Sadly, those who jumped on the anti-immigrant bandwagon have betrayed their own base. The Act is problematic, cruel, and likely unconstitutional—and Democrats will regret supporting it.
Raul A. Reyes is an attorney and contributor to NBC Latino and CNN Opinion. Follow him on X: @RaulAReyes, and IG: @raulareyes1.
The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.
