Laken Riley Act Further Enables Mass Deportations of Migrants

In Brief

NASW urged members of Congress to vote no on the Laken Riley Act (H.R. 29). The bill makes accusations—not just convictions—of minor and nonviolent crimes deportable offenses.

“Therefore, people who are arrested on the pretext of criminal behavior would be subject to prolonged, indefinite detention without bond,” NASW Senior Policy Adviser Mel Wilson wrote in a blog post before President Donald Trump signed the bill into law on Jan. 29.

The act is named for 22-year-old nursing student Laken Riley, who was murdered in February 2024. Josie Ibarra, an undocumented immigrant from Venezuela, was sentenced in November 2024 to life in prison without parole in Riley’s death. Ibarra previously had been caught by border patrol agents and released.

The Laken Riley Act gives individual states the standing to override the executive branch’s federal immigration policy. The bottom line is that the bill is a blank check for jurisdictions that have a record of discriminatory and anti-immigrant policies to execute their real goal of mass deportations of migrants, Wilson wrote. “NASW is deeply disappointed the House passed this bill with the support of 48 Democrats,” he said.