Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) said on Sunday that the Laken Riley Act, a bill aimed at curbing crime by migrants, is a “highway to mass deportation.”
“It is essentially a highway to mass deportation, and you can have any number of people picked up and put into the criminal justice system simply for being accused, with no conviction, no admission of guilt,” Jayapal said in an interview on MSNBC’s “The Sunday Show with Jonathan Capehart.”
“Right now, if you are picked up on shoplifting or theft, and you are actually convicted of that, you are mandatorily detained. If you are picked up and you admit to the crime, you are mandatorily detained. This says you can just be accused,” Jayapal said.
“And so it is really a massive overstretch,” she added. “It is a real problem, and it is the way that Republicans are trying to expand the ways that you can put an undocumented immigrant into the criminal justice system without even a conviction.”
The Senate in a 84-9 vote last week overwhelmingly cleared a key procedural hurdle toward passing the legislation with 33 Senate Democrats — including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) — joining with every Republican present to vote “yes.”
It would mandate federal detention of immigrants without legal status accused of theft, burglary and other related crimes.
Thursday’s vote came two days after the House cleared the same measure with 48 Democrats voting in support.
Senate Republicans are expecting a number of amendment votes on the item this week.
Riley, a Georgia college student, was killed last February by a Venezuelan migrant who had been arrested for shoplifting ahead of the attack and paroled in the country. Thursday’s vote took place the day before Riley’s birthday.
