Immigrant Advocates Strongly Condemn Legislation Criminalizing Immigrants For Nonviolent Offenses

NEW YORK, New York – Immigrant advocates on Wednesday strongly condemned the passage of legislation in the United States Congress criminalizing immigrants for nonviolent offenses.

The US House of Representatives on Wednesday passed H.R. 29, or the Laken Riley Act, a measure that will now go to President Donald Trump’s desk for signature and enactment. 

The legislation would require the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency to detain undocumented 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 also 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.”

Wednesday’s House vote followed the Senate’s approval of the same measure, with a few amendments, earlier this week. 

“The passage of this bill will be remembered by Americans for years to come as the moment when our government wrongly sanctioned mass cruelty to please private prison purveyors,” NYIC’s President and Chief Executive Officer Murad Awawdeh, told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC) –  “H.R. 29 is a discriminatory, anti-immigrant bill that violates the US Constitution, under the guise of public safety, by rolling back basic due process protections for those who are wrongfully arrested from losing their immigration status. 

“The bill will not only reverse decades of progress in advancing the rights and dignity of immigrants across the country, it will ultimately escalate the mass incarceration of people of color, including children and youth, by enabling anti-immigrant law enforcement practices and profiling of individuals perceived to be undocumented,” he added. 

“The legislation will upend our federal government’s ability to enforce immigration law by putting it into the hands of state attorney generals across the country and throwing our broken immigration system into chaos,” Awawdeh continued. “H.R. 29 will destabilize our families and communities, while devastating our economy and do nothing meaningful to keep us safe.

“Each and every person who voted this bill into law should be ashamed,” he said. 

The San Diego, California-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 CMC. “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. 

HBA also vehemently condemned President Donald Trump’s executive order terminating the Humanitarian Parole Program for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans (CHNV). 

Jozef said this programme, fought for by human rights groups, including HBA, established under the Biden administration, provided “a vital legal pathway for individuals fleeing persecution and dire conditions in their home countries to seek safety in the United States.” 

She said the CHNV program has been instrumental in offering refuge to over 530,000 migrants from these four nations, allowing them to live and work legally in the US for up to two years. 

“By dismantling this program, President Trump is not only turning his back on America’s longstanding tradition of humanitarian protection but also endangering the lives of thousands who now face the threat of deportation to countries plagued by violence,” Jozef said. 

On Wednesday, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), ACLU of the District of Columbia and the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) sued the Trump administration over its plan to massively expand fast-track deportations without a fair legal process. 

The lawsuit was filed in the US District Court in Washington, D.C. on behalf of the immigrant advocacy group Make the Road New York. 

The expanded expedited removal rule, announced by the Trump administration on Wednesday, mimics a similar policy pushed by the first Trump administration, which the ACLU and Make the Road New York also challenged. 

“The Trump administration wants to use this illegal policy to fuel its mass deportation agenda and rip communities apart,” said Anand Balakrishnan, senior staff attorney with the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project and lead counsel on this case. “Expanding expedited removal would give Trump a cheat code to circumvent due process and the Constitution, and we are again here to fight it. 

“People living in communities all across the United States are at risk of being separated from their families and expelled from the country with no legal recourse,” he added. “This is an attack on communities, our Constitution, and fundamental American values.” 

The ACLU said the policy targets immigrants nationwide who cannot prove they have been in the country continuously for two years or more. 

“Due process requires they get a fair hearing, which this rule strips from them,” Balakrishnan said. “Under this rule, immigrants who have been integrated into and contribute to our communities would get less due process contesting their deportation than they would contesting a traffic ticket.” 

The lawsuit cites violations of the Fifth Amendment’s due process clause, the Immigration and Nationality Act, and the Administrative Procedure Act. 

“Everyone in this country is entitled to due process — it is one of the core tenets of our government,” said Arlenis Morel, co-executive director of Make the Road New York. “To fast track the deportation of people who have entered this country to find safety and build a life for themselves and their families, without even a chance to see a judge, will only sow fear in immigrant communities and increase the terror of being separated from loved ones forever. 

“The strategy of the Trump administration seems to be to bombard immigrants and their allies with heinous policies so as to overwhelm,” she added. “We will not let this happen. We are prepared to fight back against this illegal policy and to uphold the rule of law.” 

Arthur Spitzer, senior counsel at the ACLU of the District of Columbia, characterized Trump’s decision to fast-track deportations as “chaotic, unfair and inhumane. 

“We hope the courts will order President Trump to do his constitutional duty to ‘take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed,’” he said.  

Meantime, New York Attorney General Letitia James also condemned a memorandum issued by the US Department of Justice (DOJ) addressing state and local law enforcement agencies, and federal immigration enforcement. 

“This is an attempt by the President to force state and local governments to carry out his mass deportations,” James told CMC. “New York will not be bullied into breaking the law in order to fulfill a campaign promise. We will not sit idly by and allow the Constitution to be undermined.