President Donald J. Trump on Wednesday signed into law a measure criminalizing Caribbean and other immigrants for nonviolent offenses.
The US House of Representatives earlier passed H.R. 29, or the Laken Riley Act, requiring the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency to detain undocumented Caribbean and other immigrants who are simply arrested or charged with – not found guilty of – nonviolent crimes, including burglary, theft, larceny or shoplifting.
The New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC), an umbrella policy and advocacy organization that represents over 200 immigrant and refugee rights groups throughout New York, said that the legislation, among many other things, would impact Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival (DACA) recipients, otherwise known as Dreamers, who came to the US as children with their undocumented parents.
In addition, NYIC said the Laken Riley Act would impact children under the age of 18, including unaccompanied children, and expand the standing of state Attorney Generals to seek injunctions against the federal government for immigration policy decisions, “which will create chaos in the federal courts.”
“The Trump administration has once again chosen to weaponize fear and hatred to demonize all immigrants and deny them the due process they deserve,” NYIC President and Chief Executive Office Murad Awawdeh told Caribbean Life.
“With the signing of H.R. 29 into law, Trump has set the stage for an era of injustice, where immigrant communities will face further criminalization, discrimination, and detention at a massive scale,” he added. “We must reject policies like H.R. 29 that seek to divide us and push the most vulnerable into the shadows while doing little to improve our public safety and costing taxpayers billions of dollars annually.
“We will continue to fight for immigrant rights, for the protection of due process, and for a future where everyone can live with dignity and security,” Awawdeh continued.
A White House statement said on Wednesday that Trump signed into law the
Laken Riley Act, “which requires the Secretary of Homeland Security to take into custody aliens who have been charged in the United States with theft, and for other purposes.”
The Department of Homeland Security also noted that “President Trump signed his first piece of legislation into law, the Laken Riley Act.
“This law mandates the federal detention of illegal immigrants who are accused of theft, burglary, assaulting a law enforcement officer, and any crime that causes death or serious bodily injury,” the statement said.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem thanked Trump for signing the Act, stating that, “This law restores commonsense to our broken immigration system.
“Under President Trump, violent criminals and vicious gang members will no longer be released into American communities,” she said, stating that the Laken Riley Act is named after a Georgia nursing student, “who was killed by a Venezuelan alien, who was previously arrested and paroled into the US under the previous administration.”
The San Diego, CA-based Haitian Bridge Alliance (HBA) also strongly condemned the passage of the Laken Riley Act, describing it as “a draconian piece of legislation that undermines America’s commitment to human rights, criminalizes the most vulnerable, and dismantles critical asylum protections.”
“The Laken Riley Act is a devastating attack on those who are fleeing violence, political persecution and extreme natural disasters,” HBA’s Executive Director Guerline Jozef told Caribbean Life. “Instead of addressing the root causes of irregular migration, this bill seeks to close doors, weaponize bureaucracy, and strip away the legal and humanitarian safeguards that define our nation’s values.
“This legislation is a direct affront to America’s longstanding tradition of offering refuge to the oppressed,” she added. “The Laken Riley Act does not enhance security or fairness—it institutionalizes cruelty, targets asylum seekers, and denies safety to those who need it most, including Haitian nationals escaping failed US foreign policy, political violence and insecurity.
“Shame on every member of Congress who supported this cruel and overreaching legislation,” Jozef continued. “At a time when Haitians and other marginalized groups face unprecedented crises, the passage of this act sends a clear and chilling message: the lives of Black and Brown migrants are disposable.
“This law represents a calculated effort to dehumanize migrants and perpetuate racial discrimination in our immigration system and in the Black community,” she said, stating that the Laken Riley Act “has the potential to exacerbate racial profiling and disproportionately target Black communities, which are already subjected to over-policing and over-criminalization.”
