The Laken Riley Act is a good start, but it needs funding
Rep. Mike Collins (R-Ga.) introduced the Laken Riley Act to “give local law enforcement and ICE more tools to fight illegal immigrants who commit crime in the United States.” It was named after a 22-year-old nursing student murdered by an undocumented immigrant.
The act passed in the House with 251 yeas and 170 nays. Sen. Katie Britt (R-Ala.) introduced an identical version in the Senate, where it also passed, 64 to 35.
The bill would require U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to issue detainers and take custody of undocumented immigrants who are charged with, arrested for, convicted of or admit committing acts “which constitute the essential elements of a burglary, theft, larceny, or shoplifting offense.”
Without rapidly executed mass deportations, however, the act’s mandatory detention provisions could result in indefinite jail sentences for detained immigrants, who will have to wait a long time to get a hearing, because the immigration court has a backlog of nearly 4 million cases. And it remains to be seen whether Congress will give the new border czar, Tom Homan, the funding he needs to conduct mass deportations.
The bill would also © The Hill
