KJZZ is a service of Rio Salado College,
and Maricopa Community Colleges

Copyright © 2025 KJZZ/Rio Salado College/MCCCD
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Trump has signed the Laken Riley Act. Questions remain about how it works for kids

President Donald Trump holds the document after signing the Laken Riley Act during an event in the East Room of the White House on Jan. 29, 2025, in Washington, D.C.
Evan Vucci
/
AP
President Donald Trump holds the document after signing the Laken Riley Act during an event in the East Room of the White House on Jan. 29, 2025, in Washington, D.C.

President Donald Trump has officially signed the Laken Riley Act into law. Under it, Homeland Security is required to detain and deport any undocumented immigrant arrested for low-level crimes like shoplifting, along with violent crimes like assault on a federal officer.

It passed Congress with bipartisan support — including from Democratic Sen. Ruben Gallego, who co-sponsored the Senate version. Rights groups have repeatedly warned it erodes due process for immigrants and has no carve-outs for minors.

Leecia Welch is the deputy litigation director of the legal aid group Children’s Rights and co–counsel in ongoing Flores Settlement negotiations. The settlement governs the conditions in which immigrant children are allowed to be held in federal custody, including facilities run by Customs and Border Protection, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Office of Refugee Resettlement.

“Essentially, in the name of public safety, the Laken Riley Act, subjects children to indefinite, no bond, detention in ICE facilities, for offenses that are as trivial as taking candy from the corner store,” she said.

Welch says it’s also unclear how and where people would be detained — including children. She says the Flores Settlement can govern conditions for centers that house children, but may not be able to stave off indefinitely detention.

“The vast majority of the children that could get ensnared due to the Laken Riley Act’s requirements, would not be saved from indefinite detention by the Flores Settlement,” she said.

More Immigration News

Alisa Reznick is a senior field correspondent covering stories across southern Arizona and the borderlands for the Tucson bureau of KJZZ's Fronteras Desk.