Hirono Introduces Amendments to Laken Riley Act to Clarify Mandatory Detention Provisions, Uphold Federal Immigration Decisions

~ Amendments would prohibit minors from being detained, stop the separation of families with children under the age of 16, and prevent states from suing the federal government for immigration decisions ~
WASHINGTON, DC– U.S. Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI), a senior member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, introduced five amendments to S.5, theLaken Riley Act.As it is currently written, the bill would change immigration and Constitutional law by empowering states to challenge immigration decisions made by the federal government and requiring U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to detain any undocumented individual who is charged with, arrested for, convicted of, or admits to theft or related crimes. It would also require ICE to ask local law enforcement to detain undocumented individuals currently within their custody who have committed such crimes.
Senator Hirono’s amendments aim to mitigate the harm caused by this legislation by prohibiting minors from being detained; stopping the separation of families with children under the age of 16; and preventing states from suing the federal government for immigration decisions.
“Our country desperately needs comprehensive, bipartisan immigration reform,”said Senator Hirono.“Unfortunately, this bill would not improve our immigration system, and would have all sorts of unintended consequences for immigrants, our immigration system, and our communities. My amendments would mitigate some of the most troubling impacts of this bill, but there is no amendment that would adequately fix this poorly thought out piece of legislation.”
Specifically, Senator Hirono’s five amendments would:
The full text of Senator Hirono’s submitted amendments are availablehere.
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