Rep. Mike Collins (R-Ga.) introduced the Laken Riley Act, H.R. 7511, to “give local law enforcement and ICE more tools to fight illegal immigrants who commit crime in the United States.” It was named after Laken Riley, a 22-year-old nursing student who was murdered by an undocumented immigrant.

The act was passed in the House with 251 yeas and 170 nays; Sen. Katie Britt (R-Ala.) has introduced an identical version in the Senate.

It would require U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to issue detainers and take custody of undocumented immigrants who are charged with, arrested for, convicted of or admit committing acts “which constitute the essential elements of a burglary, theft, larceny, or shoplifting offense.”

Without rapidly executed mass deportations, however, the act’s mandatory detention provisions could result in indefinite jail sentences for detained immigrants, who will have to wait a long time to get a hearing because the immigration court has a backlog of nearly 4 million cases. And it remains to be seen whether congress will give the new border czar, Tom Homan, the funding he needs to conduct mass deportations.

The act also would give states standing to sue the secretary of the Homeland Security Department (DHS) “for injunctive relief if immigration actions such as parole, violation of detention requirements, or other policy failures harm that state or its citizens.” The states might be able to stop presidents from abusing the parole provision, but the other objectives are problematic.

Resources needed for detention facilities

When Collins asked ICE to determine what additional resources it would need to enforce the mandatory detention provisions in the act, ICE responded that it would need at least 64,000 more beds. This would require a $3.2 billion increase in detention funding.

ICE subsequently issued a new estimate stating that the cost of implementing the mandatory detention provisions would be around $26 billion in the first year, which is 174 percent more than current funding for detention facilities. This is based on the assumption that detention facilities would be needed for 800,000 more immigrants.

Read more at

https://thehill.com/opinion/immigrat...y-act-funding/

Published originally on the Hill.

Nolan Rappaport was detailed to the House Judiciary Committee as an Executive Branch Immigration Law Expert for three years. He subsequently served as an immigration counsel for the Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security and Claims for four years. Prior to working on the Judiciary Committee, he wrote decisions for the Board of Immigration Appeals for 20 years.