On Tuesday, the House of Representatives passed the Laken Riley Act, a bill that erodes constitutional protections for immigrants living in the U.S., including due process rights.
The bill is the first piece of legislation passed by either house in the 119th Congress. It is named for a Georgia nursing student who was murdered in early 2024 by an immigrant living in the state.
Riley’s killing was highly politicized by president-elect Donald Trump and other Republicans in an effort to boost support for their anti-immigrant agenda, which includes plans for mass arrests, immigrant prisons, and militarized deportations. Despite GOP fear mongering, however, crime rates among immigrants living in the U.S. are much lower than crime rates among U.S.- born citizens.
The bill passed easily in the House, with 48 Democrats joining 216 Republicans to advance it. The legislation faces difficult odds in the Senate, where it must overcome a 60-vote filibuster threshold, although two Democrats — Sens. Gary Peters (D-Michigan) and John Fetterman (D-Pennsylvania) — support its passage. Presuming all 53 GOP senators in the chamber vote for the bill, that would mean at least five more Democrats are needed to send it to Trump for his signature.
The bill would require the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to detain undocumented immigrants who are charged with low-level crimes, such as theft, and to expedite their deportation, even before they are ever convicted, a violation of the due process rights afforded to them in the U.S. Constitution. It also allows state attorneys general to sue the department if they believe immigration policies have caused harm to their residents — allowing far right officials to demand even stricter enforcement of deportation-focused laws.
Such a provision would create “a sweeping state AG enforcement authority,” said Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, senior fellow at the American Immigration Council, writing on Bluesky about the bill’s passage.
In a post he made earlier this week, Reichlin-Melnick explained that those vast powers could allow, for example, “[Texas Attorney General] Ken Paxton to sue to force the U.S. to block all visas from China.”
“I am not making this up; that’s an authority it would grant any state AG,” he added.
Several Democratic lawmakers explained why they voted against the bill.
The bill “serves as a license to discriminate against our immigrant communities, including Dreamers,” noted Rep. Yassamin Ansari (D-Arizona). “Under this legislation, someone charged — just charged, not found guilty — could be immediately deported. This is a gross miscarriage of justice.”
“[The Laken Riley Act] is carefully written to intentionally erode Constitutional protections, beginning with undocumented immigrants,” Rep. Chrissy Houlahan (D-Pennsylvania) said in a statement, suggesting that the bill could serve as a “slippery slope” to dismantling other constitutional protections. “I encourage people to read the text, which clearly shows how the bill removes the right to due process.”
Other critics condemned the bill’s passage, urging the Senate not to advance it.
“The Laken Riley Act is a manifestation of cynical politics,” with Republicans “manipulating a personal tragedy to scapegoat immigrants,” a statement from the National Immigration Law Center said. The group added:
This bill is not a public safety measure, but rather an attack on established constitutional protections that would do nothing to keep communities safe if enacted into law.
American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) senior border counsel Sarah Mehta also spoke out against the legislation.
“This is the first immigration bill of the new Congress, and if passed, it will strengthen President-elect Trump’s hand in unleashing mass deportations on our communities,” Mehta said. “It will force immigration authorities to detain individuals accused of nonviolent theft offenses like shoplifting regardless of whether or not law enforcement even deems them as a threat. Mandating mass detention will make us less safe, sapping resources and diverting taxpayer money away from addressing public safety needs.”
“Detaining a mother who admits to shoplifting diapers for her baby, or elderly individuals who admit to nonviolent theft when they were teenagers, is wasteful, cruel, and unnecessary,” Mehta added.
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