This law as crafted is unfortunately an ill thought-out response.
"Today, U.S. Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI), a senior member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and Senators Alex Padilla (D-CA) and Jeff Merkley (D-OR) released the following statement after the Senate passage of S.5, the Laken Riley Act:
“We are horrified by the senseless killing of Laken Riley and perpetrators of violent crime should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
“The Laken Riley Act will have unintended, far reaching consequences that have received little to no debate.
Under the mandatory detention provisions in this bill, low-risk individuals, like an undocumented ten-year old merely accused of stealing a pack of gum, must be detained by ICE.
According to ICE’s own estimates, it will cost nearly $27 billion to implement this law in the first year alone. This legislation will also sow further chaos in our immigration system by enabling states to challenge federal immigration and foreign policy decisions.
“Our country needs comprehensive, bipartisan immigration reform. Rather than fixing our broken immigration system, this legislation will further complicate it.”
