For Immediate Release: January 9, 2025
Contact: media@hispanicfederation.org
Laken Riley Act Threatens to Trample on the Rights of Due Process, Hispanic Federation Urges Senators to Oppose Legislation
Washington D.C. – Today, the Senate is currently slated to take up the Laken Riley Act (H.R. 29/S.5), legislation that passed the House of Representatives earlier this week and could cause significant harm amongst immigrant communities and the U.S. economy by jeopardizing an entire workforce. Hispanic Federation opposes the passage of this legislation which exploits a tragedy to implement a statute that would undermine constitutional rights to due process, jeopardizes federal authority on immigration, and imposes an unfunded mandate upon an already strained USCIS, all without addressing the underlying roots of violent crime. Below is a statement from Frankie Miranda, President and CEO of Hispanic Federation, denouncing the legislation:
Hispanic Federation joins with the rest of the country in mourning the cruel and tragic murder of Ms. Riley. Our hearts and prayers are with her family and community. In Ms. Riley’s honor, we are committed to working with lawmakers to design sensible legislation to prevent future tragedies.
Unfortunately, H.R. 29/S.5 is not that legislation. Instead, this Bill threatens to trample on the Constitutional right of due process while ignoring the issues that led to the recent tragedy.
The right to due process under the law is one of the preeminent civil, constitutional, and human rights guaranteed to everyone in the United States by the Bill of Rights and confirmed via repeated court rulings. H.R. 29/S.5 however confines individuals to long-term detention and priority for deportation purely on the grounds of alleged wrongdoing. The mere possibility of guilt is leveraged against individuals – including potentially TPS and DACA recipients – with no consideration of the presumption of innocence.
The policies envisioned by H.R. 29/S.5 fail to resolve vulnerabilities that contribute to tragedies like the murder of Laken Riley and could instead undermine law enforcement and security priorities. As a baseline, the Act unfairly vilifies immigrants despite immigrant communities committing crime at lower rates than native-born residents of the United States.
We exhort the Senate to vote ‘No’ on S.5. Sensible, proactive action to prevent future tragedies is of course warranted, but not by undermining civil rights and hindering the United States workforce. We call on the Senate to go back to the table to develop legislation that could truly mitigate violent crime without vilifying and exploiting an entire community.
