The Laken Riley Act and the Law of Unintended Consequences

Earlier this week, the Senate passed the Laken Riley Act, 84 - 9. Senate vote information here. No doubt it will be signed into law soon after 12:01 pm on 20 January. Shame on every Neville Chamberlain Democrat in the House and Senate who voted for it. Special shout out to Henry Cuellar, the sole Democrat to join with the 53 Rethuglican House sponsors. House vote information here.

If you write a note to your Rep or Senator who voted “NO” - please start with the line: “Thanks for not being stupid”.

Forgetting about the cruelty of the bill in terms of the innocent people it will harm, logistically it is a really bad idea.

When I told you about the first bills the House would pass, I noted that they’d pass because no funding is involved. ICE warned Congress that if they passed the Laken Riley Act, ICE would need $3.2 billion for 2025 for implementation. ICE pointed out that likely 60,000 human beings (so far) would fall under the provisions of the Act. Meanwhile, they only have 42,000 beds, of which 39,000 are in use. ICE may have to release existing detainees to take in other detainees. Remember that the Laken Riley Act ONLY covers:

[A]ny burglary, theft, larceny, or shoplifting offense (Section 2, (1) (e) (ii))

You know what it DOESN’T cover? Rape, assault with a deadly weapon, murder, or the like. Think about what that means regarding the detainees ICE would need to release. Sometimes I look at things and wonder if it’s just me. How did hundreds of Congressmen, Congresswomen and Senators miss this?

Full information on that imbroglio here.

But there’s more. Much more.

Let’s look at Section 3, paragraph 3:

“(3) ENFORCEMENT BY ATTORNEY GENERAL OF A STATE.—The attorney general of a State, or other authorized State officer, alleging a violation of the detention and removal requirements under paragraphs (1) or (2) that harms such State or its residents shall have standing to bring an action against the Secretary of Homeland Security on behalf of such State or the residents of such State in an appropriate district court of the United States to obtain appropriate injunctive relief. The court shall advance on the docket and expedite the disposition of a civil action filed under this paragraph to the greatest extent practicable. For purposes of this paragraph, a State or its residents shall be considered to have been harmed if the State or its residents experience harm, including financial harm in excess of $100.” Full text here.

There are additional enforcement provisions¹.

Basically, when you put all the enforcement actions available to State Attorneys General, it **guarantees** them standing to sue the Feds on a whole bunch of immigration actions, both in general (policy and decisions) as well as related to individual immigration cases.

Why does this matter? Because it means that no matter what sort of immigration policies Congress enacts, and the Orange Menace signs, they’re going to court. And as we’ve discussed many, many times before, once things are in court, there is a long lead time, injunctions, and all sorts of other legal maneuvering to prevent enactment of the provisions of a new law.

Think that through — one of the major themes that the Convicted Felon and his lackeys ran on was “deportation”. They want sweeping legislation. And yet they gave away “standing” to the states, meaning their unread legislation isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on².

The “other side corollary” is that a bad actor (think Ken Paxton (AG, TX) or Ashley Moody (AG, FL), as only two examples) can undertake really bad actions, and have the standing to do so. I’m thinking of anything Kris Kobach³ (AG, KS) might write and spread around.

More? Yup.

If ICE takes someone into detention, that can keep the person out of the criminal court system. Yes, the criminal case for, say, shoplifting, can continue but prosecutors need to physically get the accused out of ICE detention and transported to the state/city court system. You know, for bond hearings, due process hearings, and potentially to be found innocent. This jams up already overcrowded, underfunded, and overworked court systems. ICE needs to be able to find the accused, and figure out how to transport them into prosecutorial custody. IF ICE can find them. Not to mention the cases that can be filed, and won, for a lack of due process (US Constitution⁴, 5th and 14th Amendments.)

And that’s just one bill. There are others in their queue, with related (AND NEW!) unintended consequences.

I just keep counting on the overall incompetence of all the Rethuglicans, who, of course, ARE NOT READERS!!!⁵ This is one of the major stumbling blocks when people are dedicated above all else, to fealty to a guy with dementia.

1. This is why it pays to read bills.

2. Not just the Laken Riley Act, but other immigration-oriented bills.

3. If you don’t know Kris, this article is from 2012, and he’s only gotten worse.

4. I’m going to stop source citations for the US Constitution - I assume y’all HAVE a copy easily accessible. And if not, you really should. I haven’t left my house without a copy of the Constitution since my dad sent me off to college with one, albeit now, I carry it on my phone. You never know when you might need to point something out to, oh, say, a law enforcement official.

5. Nor do they think things through.