The Laken Riley Act – Does the US Constitution Require Due Process for Migrants?

January 24, 2025 by Martin Armstrong

The Laken Riley Act has been approved by the US Senate in a 64-35 bipartisan vote. Named after the nursing student who was brutally murdered by a Venezuelan migrant with a criminal record, the legislation will allow Immigration and Customs Enforcement to deport migrants who found guilty of committing a crime.

Sarah’s Law was also approved in a 75-24 vote that will deport migrants charged with violent crimes that resulted in death or serious bodily injury. Sarah Root was killed in 2016 after a migrant crashed into her car, posted bond, and fled the US. It is shameful that the US needs to pass laws to protect American citizens, as the Democrats were willing to permit a wave of migrant crime over the last four years in a failed attempt to secure elections.

Unlike Sarah’s Law, the Laken Riley Act will permit ICE to detain migrants who commit smaller offenses such as shoplifting. Laken Riley’s murderer was arrested for shoplifting, but migrants in blue states were not held to the same rule of law as US citizens. Those who oppose the act believe it denies migrants due process of law.

“ArtI.S8.C18.8.7.2 Aliens in the United States” was initially intended to protect LEGAL Japanese immigrants who lawfully entered the United States. Nearly a century later in Plyer v Doe (1981), the US Supreme Court expanded the language to state that “aliens, even aliens whose presence in this country is unlawful, have long been recognized as ‘persons’ guaranteed due process of law by the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments.” Most recently in 2001, the highest court ruled in Zadvydas v Davis that “once an alien enters the country, the legal circumstance changes” because the Constitution provides due process protections to “all ‘persons’ within the United States, including aliens, whether their presence here is lawful, unlawful, temporary, or permanent.”

Aliens seeking initial entry into the US have no constitutional rights. These measures were NEVER intended to broadly protect millions of illegals who surged into the nation without any checks or balances. This is why Biden sent secret flights and tore down the existing wall because the goal was simply to get these people on US soil. The courts will likely need to examine whether the premise of national security can override the protections provided under the current language of the Constitution. Unfortunately, the Democrats could have a case for providing due process to migrant criminals, jamming the already mess of a legal system we have here.

Leftist judges must be held accountable for their actions against the American public. Why have so many migrants been released back into the population after committing crimes? They have not been required to abide by US law in any form and pose a threat not just to national security but to the nation’s economic future as taxpayers must fund their existence. This is why it is absolutely crucial for the US to boost border security and prevent people from coming here in the first place. Trump has already sent 10,000 troops to the border and deported over 300 illegals on his first day.

It is refreshing to see this bill receive bipartisan support, although the far-left “progressives” are pushing back, and they may actually have legal ground to stand on. Logically, everyone has seen crime spike throughout the nation, and “migrant crime” has turned into a new brutal category that has overwhelmed law enforcement and turned once-safe cities into criminal hot spots. Look at what has happened in Europe, where migrants began pouring in back in 2015. Too many of those major European cities are simply unrecognizable today.

The Laken Riley Act will cost an estimated $27 billion in its first year, and critics believe America does not have the resources to carry out these deportation measures. Yet, America has the resources to secure numerous borders of foreign nations and protect their citizens. Biden and Harris created an absolute disaster through their open border policies that will be felt for generations to come.