McClellan Statement on the Laken Riley Act

Washington, D.C. – Today, Congresswoman Jennifer McClellan (VA-04) issued the following statement after she voted against S. 5, the Senate-amended version of the Laken Riley Act, to protect immigrant communities and stand up for due process under the law: 

“Last Congress, congressional leadership negotiated a strong bipartisan immigration reform bill to secure the southern border. We were fully prepared to advance the legislation, but Donald Trump urged his conference to kill the bill for political reasons. Now, congressional Republicans seek to exploit Laken Riley’s tragic death as a means to pass this overreaching anti-immigrant legislation. 

“Under current law, any undocumented immigrant arrested or convicted of a felony can be detained without bail and deported. This bill goes even farther to mandate detention and deportation of any undocumented immigrant merely charged with or arrested for certain crimes, even if charges are dropped or they are found not guilty. This bill clearly oversteps and undermines due process, paving the way for immigrants to be deported without regard to innocence or guilt. 

“I remain ready and willing to develop a comprehensive, bipartisan immigration and border security bill, but I will not support unconstitutional overreaching that undermines long-held American values of due process that assumes people innocent until they are proven guilty in a court of law.”

Background: The Laken Riley Act increases the scope of those subject to mandatory immigration detention to include many undocumented immigrants and those with lawful status such as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and Temporary Protected Status (TPS) if they are merely arrested for any theft or violence-related offense, even if they never receive formal charges. 

Read the S. 5/H.R. 29 bill text here and a House Judiciary Committee summary here.