Chipping Away at American Values

Is this the path toward a more perfect Union?

1/10/25

It doesn’t surprise me, but it does disappoint me.

As we head into the second Trump Administration, Congress, operating with a new Republican majority, passed the Laken Riley Act. The bill was named after a 22-year-old nursing student who was murdered about a year ago by the Willy Horton of undocumented immigrants — i.e., someone who committed a heinous crime but is totally unrepresentative of the group to which he is identified.

Here’s the way the bill is summarized on Congress’s website, congress.gov:

Under this bill, (the Department of Homeland Security or DHS) must detain an individual who (1) is unlawfully present in the United States or did not possess the necessary documents when applying for admission; and (2) has been charged with, arrested for, convicted of, or admits to having committed acts that constitute the essential elements of burglary, theft, larceny, or shoplifting.

The bill passed by a vote of 264 to 159, with 48 Democrats crossing the aisle.

I remember when one of the stalwart principles defining our nation was the notion that all are presumed innocent until proven guilty. Apparently, not anymore if this bill gets signed into law. You don’t have to be guilty…