U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch says he believes Congress has “lost control of the immigration process in this country” after casting Massachusetts’ only yes vote on a bill named after a 22-year-old Georgia nursing school student murdered by an illegal immigrant.
The Laken Riley Act, which would require ICE to issue detainers and take custody of illegal immigrants charged with theft and related crimes, received House approval Tuesday before the Senate advanced it on Thursday.
Eight of Massachusetts’ nine representatives denied the bill, while its senators, Ed Markey and Elizabeth Warren, cast two of the nine Senate rejections.
Lynch represented the lone holdout of the Bay State delegation.
“I believe we have lost control of the immigration process in this country,” Lynch said in a statement shared with the Herald on Friday. “We no longer have the ability to regulate and discern who is allowed to enter our country. We also seem to be uncertain what the consequences will be when someone who is unlawfully present in our country breaks the law.”
“While far from perfect,” he added, “House passage of the Lakin Riley Act begins to engage on those issues and attempts to bring greater certainty and clarity to that process.”
The bill, authored by Rep. Mike Collins, R-Ga., would change federal law to require the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to detain and deport illegal immigrants who commit burglary, theft, larceny and shoplifting.
If approved, it would also allow states to sue the federal government if they can demonstrate harm caused by immigrants who enter the country illegally.
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer and most other Democrats voted to proceed with the legislation, signaling that they will try and find spots to work with President-elect Donald Trump.
“The bill directly addresses one of the federal policy failures related to Laken Riley’s murder. Her murderer, Jose Ibarra, is an illegal alien who had been previously cited for shoplifting by the Athens Police Department,” House Speaker Mike Johnson said in a statement. “If local law enforcement had called ICE, and ICE issued a detainer and picked him up, Laken would be alive.”
Federal authorities said Ibarra, a 26-year-old Venezuelan national, illegally entered the U.S. in 2022 and was allowed to stay in the country while he pursued his immigration case. Ibarra was convicted and sentenced to life in prison in November without the possibility of parole for raping and killing Riley, on a run on the University of Georgia campus, last February.
Massachusetts Rep. Jim McGovern slammed Republicans for bringing up the bill which he called “political grandstanding at its worst,” as he looked to “set the record straight.”
“First things first, if you are undocumented and arrested or convicted of a felony, you’re already subject to detention and deportation,” the Worcester Democrat said on social media on Thursday. “That’s already on the books. It’s a good law, I agree with it, and it should be enforced.”
“That’s not what this bill is about,” he added. “This bill targets people who have been accused of shoplifting. Not rapists and murderers like the monster who killed Laken Riley. People accused of shoplifting.”
Lowell Democrat Lori Trahan called Riley’s death “senseless and heartbreaking,” expressing “outrage” over her “brutal assault.” But she also raised “serious concerns” about the bill’s “disregard for due process as guaranteed by the Constitution.”
“This bill would allow the indefinite detention of Dreamers, Temporary Protected Status (TPS) recipients,” she said in a statement Wednesday, “and other individuals lawfully present in the United States based solely on accusations of nonviolent misdemeanor crimes while providing no pathway for release if they are not charged or found innocent.”
“This is not justice – it is an overreach that undermines the foundation of our justice system,” she added.
MassGOP Chairwoman Amy Carnevale condemned the delegation’s opposition which comes as Massachusetts continues to see the migrant crisis reach an even hotter boiling point.
“When you add this vote to recent revelations about crimes and misconduct in migrant shelters and the arrests of individuals here illegally who have committed despicable offenses,” she said in a statement, “it becomes clear that Massachusetts Democrats are ignoring the real consequences of their policies.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report
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