By Mel Wilson, NASW Senior Policy Advisor
The National Association of Social Workers (NASW) urges Members of Congress to vote no on the Laken Riley Act. This bill would make accusations – and not just convictions – of minor and non-violent crimes to be deportable offenses.
Therefore, people who are arrested on the pretext of criminal behavior would be subject to prolonged, indefinite detention without bond. The act is named for 22-year-old nursing student Laken Riley. According to news reports Riley was murdered last February by Josie Ibarra, an illegal immigrant from Venezuela. Ibarra had previously been caught by border patrol agents and released. He was sentenced to life in prison without parole in Riley’s death in November.
The Laken Riley Act (HR 29) will give individual states the standing to override the executive branch’s federal immigration policy. The bottom line is that if the bill is passed by the Senate it would be a blank check for jurisdictions that have a record of discriminatory and anti-immigrant policies to execute their real goal of mass deportations of migrants.
NASW is deeply disappointed the House passed this bill with the support of 48 Democrats. NASW urges the Senate to reject the Laken Riley Act when it is scheduled for a vote in that body.
Some of the specific aspects of the bill that substantiates our call for the Senate to deny its passage include:
- The bill ignores basic due process protections by requiring mandatory immigration arrest and detention, without access to bail, of any undocumented person either convicted of or merely arrested for low-level non-violent offenses. It is clear that detention without access to a bond or bail hearing, and with no mechanism for release prior to deportation, is a harmful practice that should be ended, not expanded.
- NASW is concerned that there is no statute of limitations associated with offenses that may have occurred many years prior to an arrest. Furthermore, the bill does not include provisions for individuals to resolve the underlying criminal charges against them before immigration detention.
- The Laken Riley Act, if implemented, will create a pipeline to indefinite detention for current undocumented people and for those in the future. Given the painful history of immigrant detention, this is an unacceptable outcome.
- It is inevitable that HR 29 will exacerbate racial profiling. In communities where profiling is already documented and is highly problematic, HR 29 would become a weapon for targeting immigrants, making entire communities afraid to report crimes or cooperate with law enforcement.
- Mixed-Status Families will almost certainly face increased risk of separation. It is equally certain that the stringent enforcement measures in the Laken Riley Act will lead to imminent risk for deportations and the life altering traumatic consequences for young children in such families.
- The bill places Temporary Protected Status (TPS) recipients at heightened risk of being racially and ethnically profiled and overly scrutinized for evidence past “criminal” behaviors that would justify immigration detention procedures. All of which will disrupt the lives of TPS recipients and create uncertainty about their future in the United States.
- Similarly, “Dreamers” are also at risk of being adversely affected by the Laken Riley Act. It is not unrealistic to suggest that those with an anti-immigrant agenda will use the act as a pretext for profiling dreamers with increased scrutiny. This will lead to increased fear and instability among Dreamers and their families, who have already faced significant uncertainty regarding their legal status.
For these and other reasons, NASW urges Members of Congress not to be swayed by those who profess that the Laken Riley Act has merit due to its supposed public safety objective. This is a cynical position, considering there is no correlation between citizenship or immigration status and crime.
Evidence shows that immigrants make our communities stronger by invigorating local economies and fortifying urban development and cultural growth. We should all be reminded that Laken Riley’s tragic death should be mourned and that the perpetrator – not the entire immigrant community – should be punished for that crime.
