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.
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Mexico’s foreign secretary says 14,000 Mexican nationals remain in immigration detention in the United States as Mexico pursues consular and legal action. -
Lawyers who spoke to KPBS said immigration judges are now ordering bond amounts that previously were only used for criminals on international wanted lists. The U.S. Department of Justice says the courts are following the law and that the claims are "baseless." -
Assistant Chief Patrol Agent Mike Wisniewski says this latest surge comes on the heels of a similar operation last month, which led to the arrest of dozens of undocumented immigrants. -
A kitchen manager at the center of the Zipps Sports Grill immigration raids has been sentenced to five months in federal prison for his role in hiring undocumented workers. -
Every year, Arizona State University Barrett Honors College professor Abby Wheatley brings her class on transnational migration to the Arizona borderlands.
