Myth v. Fact: The Laken Riley Act

14 JAN 2025

The Laken Riley Act would give State Attorneys General unconstitutional power over immigration, indefinitely jail immigrants who aren’t convicted and overwhelm the federal courts

Washington, D.C – As the Senate considers S.5, the Laken Riley Act, the Immigration Hub is releasing a myth vs. fact breakdown to highlight the bill’s dangerous and unconstitutional provisions. Far from improving public safety, the bill targets immigrant families, empowers anti-immigrant state actors, and mandates detention for minor infractions, all while destabilizing communities and undermining federal authority.

 

Myth: The federal government has not been targeting murderers, sex offenders, and other violent criminals for deportation

Fact: Serious criminals are already the federal government’s priority for detention and removal. In FY2024, for example, ICE reports having: “removed 271,484 noncitizens with final orders of removal to 192 different countries, including 88,763 who had charges or convictions for criminal activity.” Under INA § 236(c), the federal government is already required to detain and remove those who pose national security and serious public safety threats. The bill does not address serious crime and instead focuses on the mandatory detention of immigrants accused of or arrested for minor theft-related crimes, such as shoplifting.

Myth: Dreamers will not be impacted by the bill. 

Fact: The bill requires the mandatory detention of any undocumented immigrant who is arrested, charged with, or convicted of a crime. Dreamers will be put at risk of mandatory detention and deportation if this bill is passed. Even many DACA holders will be at risk if they did not enter the U.S. on a visa or parole. Even if the DACA holder did enter on a visa or parole, they would be subject to mandatory detention for these low-level offenses if they are seeking a green card. Also, DACA is a discretionary status that is provided to individuals by DHS, it is not a permanent status and can be revoked at any time. 

 

Myth: The inclusion of greater powers for Attorneys Generals and locals judges is not a big deal

Fact: Immigration has been weaponized by many local actors leading the charge in restrictionist attacks on immigrants and their American family members. For instance, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton—who has skirted various corruption, bribery, and other scandals—has spearheaded efforts targeting community groups providing legal services to immigrant communities, orchestrated home raids against Latino campaign workers, and relentlessly attacked the popular DACA policy.

Similarly, Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach has long pursued a nativist agenda focused on large-scale deportations. The proposed Laken Riley Act reflects his decades-long push, echoing his role as the architect of anti-immigrant measures like Arizona’s infamous SB 1070 “show me your papers” law. This approach threatens to overwhelm courts with lawsuits, disrupt U.S. diplomatic relations, and destabilize immigration enforcement resources.

  

Myth: This bill would keep us safer.

Fact

  • Targeting immigrants for harsh treatment will not reduce serious crime or increase public safety because immigrants are less likely than others to commit crime.
  • The bill has nothing to do with murderers or other hardened criminals, who are already subject to mandatory detention. Rather, it targets immigrants who’ve been convicted, or merely accused, of property crimes such as shoplifting — and even those who tell an immigration officer they shoplifted at some point in their past, even if never arrested.
  • Under Laken Riley, those merely accused of shoplifting or other property crimes must be incarcerated, potentially for years, without mercy, with no trial, no appeal, and no consideration of special factors such as youth, severity, length of time since the alleged violation, or even subsequent exoneration.
  • The bill has no minimum age limit, so anyone old enough to commit shoplifting or other property crimes would be treated the same as adults under this bill, trapped in years of mandatory detention
  • There is no consideration for how long ago the arrest, conviction, or conduct occurred, meaning that a low-level crime committed decades ago as a child would lead to mandatory detention whenever an immigrant comes into ICE custody. A undocumented grandfather who admits having stolen a candy bar from a store as a child would be subject to mandatory detention under the law.
  • The punishment of this bill would become mandatory once a person who was ever accused of shoplifting or other property crime falls into ICE custody, meaning that there would be nothing that family, friends, coworkers, attorneys, or even ICE itself could do no matter how minor the crime or how the person has conducted themselves since the alleged violation.

 

Myth: The federal government lacks the necessary authority to detain individuals facing deportation proceedings, and this bill fixes that. 

Fact: The federal government already possesses the necessary authority to detain any individual who is in deportation proceedings, making this bill duplicative and unnecessary. The bill does not provide any additional authorities but rather would force ICE to indefinitely detain any and all individuals who are arrested, charged, or convicted with a crime, even if they pose no threat, unless their deportation proceedings are dropped. This could lead ICE to have to release people who actually pose a threat due to lack of bed space and resources.   

 

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The Immigration Hub is a national organization dedicated to advancing fair and just immigration policies through strategic leadership, innovative communications strategies, legislative advocacy and collaborative partnerships.

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