Immigrant advocates are gearing up for potential large-scale detentions that they fear will require costly construction of immigration detention facilities to accommodate the individuals apprehended.
In Washington, President Donald Trump is scheduled to sign the Laken Riley Act into law, marking the first piece of legislation under his administration. The act would mandate the detention and potential deportation of individuals in the country illegally who are accused of theft and violent crimes, even prior to being convicted.
Despite concerns from immigrant rights advocates about the possibility of significant roundups for offenses as minor as shoplifting, the new Republican-led Congress swiftly approved the measure with some backing from Democrats. Trump has reiterated his commitment to overseeing the largest mass deportation initiative in U.S. history.
Trump, who won back the White House by tapping into public anger over illegal immigration, has made the promised crackdown a centerpiece of his political career, and is now suggesting the new law might only be the beginning.
“This shows the potential for additional enforcement bills that will help us crack down on criminal aliens and totally restore the rule of law in our country,” the president told House Republicans at a conference at his Doral golf club in Florida.
The legislation is named for Laken Riley, a 22-year-old Georgia nursing student who went out for a run in February 2024 and was killed by Jose Antonio Ibarra, a Venezuelan national in the U.S. illegally. Ibarra was found guilty in November and sentenced to life without parole.
“To have a bill of such importance named after her is a great, a great tribute,” Trump said. “This new form of crime, criminal, illegal aliens, it’s — it’s massive, the numbers are massive and you add that to the crime we already had.”
The swift passage of the legislation and Trump’s signing nine days after taking office adds to the potent symbolism for conservatives. To critics, the measure has taken advantage of a tragedy and could lead to chaos and cruelty while doing little to fight crime or overhaul the immigration system.
Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., a cosponsor, planned to attend the signing ceremony.
“I believe a secure border creates a more secure nation and it’s just common sense,” he said in a statement, adding that he was elected “to work with both sides of the aisle.”
Federal officials would have to detain any immigrant arrested or charged with crimes such as theft or assaulting a police officer, or offenses that injure or kill someone. State attorneys general could sue the U.S. government for harm caused by federal immigration decisions — potentially allowing the leaders of conservative states to help dictate immigration policy set by Washington.
Ibarra had been arrested for illegal entry in September 2022 near El Paso, Texas, and released to pursue his case in immigration court. Federal officials say he was arrested by New York police in August 2023 for child endangerment and released. Police say he was also suspected of theft in Georgia in October 2023 — all of which occurred before Riley’s killing.
After the House passed the bill, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said it was “the right thing to do.”
Some Democrats have questioned whether it is constitutional. Immigrant advocates are bracing for mass detentions that they say will mean costly construction of immigration lockup facilities to house the people arrested.
“They don’t just get to celebrate. They get to use this for their mass deportation agenda,” Naureen Shah, deputy director of government affairs in the equality division of the American Civil Liberties Union, said of the act’s supporters.
The ALCU says the act can allow people to be “mandatorily locked up — potentially for years — because at some point in their lives, perhaps decades ago, they were accused of nonviolent offenses.”
Hannah Flamm, interim senior director of policy at the International Refugee Assistance Project, said the measure violates immigrants’ basic rights by allowing for detaining people who have not been charged with wrongdoing — and not even convicted. Still, she said, “The latent fear from the election cycle of looking soft on crime snowballed into aiding and abetting Trump’s total conflation of immigration with crime.”
Flamm said it is likely to be challenged in court. But she also predicted that a need to pay for more immigration detention centers will give advocates a chance to challenge how federal funds are appropriated to cover those costs.
“I think it is pivotal to understand: This bill, framed as connected to a tragic death, is pretext to fortify a mass deportation system,” Flamm said.
The signing follows a flurry of first-week executive orders by Trump that are designed to better seal off the U.S.-Mexico border and eventually move to deport millions of immigrants without permanent U.S. legal status. The new administration has also canceled refugee resettlement and says it may attempt to prosecute local law enforcement officials who do not enforce his new immigration policies.
“We’re tracking down the illegal alien criminals and we’re detaining them and we’re throwing them the hell out of our country,” Trump said. “We have no apologies, and we’re moving forward very fast.”
