Two Caribbean immigrant advocacy groups have urged the United States Senate to flatly reject a bill expected to be passed on Friday in the US House of Representatives that would allow the deportation of undocumented Caribbean and other immigrants who are charged with nonviolent crimes, including burglary, theft, larceny or shoplifting.
Make the Road New York (MRNY) and the San Diego, California-based Haitian Bridge Alliance (HBA) on Wednesday joined the New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC), an umbrella policy and advocacy organization that represents over 200 immigrant and refugee rights groups throughout New York, in strongly condemning the Laken Riley Act (H.R. 29), describing it as “an overreach.”
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The legislation is named after Laken Riley, a 22-year-old Augusta University nursing student, who was killed while jogging on February 22, 2024, at the University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia.
Venezuelan national José Antonio Ibarra, 26, who had illegally entered the United States, was found guilty of Riley’s murder on November 20, 2024, and is currently serving life in prison without the possibility of parole.
With US President-elect Donald Trump’s proposed mass deportation of Caribbean and other immigrants in mind, 48 Democrats in the House of Representatives voted on Tuesday with all House Republicans in passing the Laken Riley Act.
The measure seems headed for enactment with bipartisan support in the US Senate, which plans to adopt the legislation on Friday.
“The Senate must reject this misguided legislation,” Theo Oshiro, MRNY’s co-executive director, told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC). “This bill would cause irreparable harm to our communities by expanding mandatory detention and letting anti-immigrant state attorneys general effectively control federal immigration policy through litigation whenever they oppose releasing someone from immigration custody.
“We know that Donald Trump has vilified immigrants in order to divide the American people, but it is unconscionable of elected officials to green-light these cruel policies,” added Oshiro.
“Immigrants are entitled to due process, just like everyone else living in this country. We are not pawns to be sold out in order to score political points,” he continued. “Immigrants are our family, our neighbours, our friends, and our coworkers. They now have to live in fear with a target on their backs.
“With an increase in xenophobic sentiment being spewed by political leaders, there is now an even higher likelihood that immigrants will be racially profiled and arrested for a crime they did not commit—that in simply going to school or work they might be separated from their loved ones forever,” he said.
MRNY’s co-executive director said that low-income Black, Brown and immigrant communities “already suffer disproportionate impacts of police violence.
“This legislation only adds to that burden,” he said. “The Senate must step in and protect families all over the country from this destructive overreach of the federal government.”
HBA said while it strongly condemns the murder of Laken Riley, it believes the passage of the Laken Riley Act by the US House of Representatives “constitutes an overreach.”
“The bill is a draconian piece of legislation that undermines America’s commitment to human rights, criminalizes the most vulnerable, and dismantles critical asylum protections,” Guerline Jozef, HBA’s executive director, told CMC. “The Laken Riley Act is a devastating attack on those who are fleeing violence, political persecution and extreme poverty.
“Instead of addressing the root causes of migration, this bill seeks to close doors, weaponize bureaucracy, and strip away the legal and humanitarian safeguards that define our nation’s values,” she added. “This legislation is a direct affront to America’s longstanding tradition of offering refuge to the oppressed.
“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 Haitians escaping political violence and insecurity,” 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.
Jozef said HBA, therefore, urges the US Senate to “reject this legislation and calls on all Americans to stand in solidarity with migrants and asylum seekers.
“Together, we must uphold the principles of compassion, fairness, and justice that this nation was built upon,” she said.
On Tuesday, Murad Awawdeh, NYIC’s president and chief executive officer, noted that “In America, everyone is afforded due process under the law. Everyone deserves their day in court and the chance to argue for their innocence.
“However, Congress is now taking a draconian turn towards denying people this fundamental Constitutional right,” Awawdeh said. “We know that Black and Brown Americans – and New Yorkers – are disproportionately targeted by law enforcement.
“If this bill becomes law, immigrants who are swept up in this enforcement, without even being convicted of a crime, could be permanently separated from their families before having the opportunity to defend themselves in a court of law – in direct violation of their Constitutional rights,” he warned.
Pramila Jayapal, Democrat of Washington, said on the House floor on Tuesday: “People deserve to have their day in court and are innocent until proven guilty. That seems to be something that the majority (Republicans) has forgotten or doesn’t seem to care about.”
Last month, Caribbean-American Democratic Congresswoman Yvette D. Clarke joined US lawmakers and immigration advocates in calling on the Biden administration to protect Black immigrant communities during the lame-duck session.
The legislators said they were particularly concerned about how Trump’s proposed immigration policies will impact Black communities and families of mixed status.
Trump, who will be sworn in on January 20. (CMC)
