Women’s Refugee Commission’s Statement on the Laken Riley Act
Yesterday the Laken Riley Act became the first legislation passed by the 119th Congress and is likely to be the first bill President Trump signs into law. The law, which takes its name from the tragic murder of Georgia nursing student Laken Riley, falls far short of its stated goal of protecting women like Riley from violence or promoting public safety. Instead, the law serves as a dramatic and costly expansion of federal immigration enforcement power that mandates the detention of largely nonviolent immigrants, including those who have been merely accused of offenses as minor as shoplifting.
“Immigrant survivors need solutions that protect and support them,” said Zain Lakhani, Women’s Refugee Commission’s director of Migrant Right and Justice, “not policies that worsen the problems they seek to solve. Not only does the Laken Riley Act provide no protection or support for women, it has no provisions to exempt minor children, victims of human trafficking and domestic violence, or other populations that commit crimes out of force and desperation. The law could result in minor children being held in facilities only meant for adults and punish women who are trafficked or suffering from abuse.”
As he signs the Laken Riley Act into law, purporting to protect women, President Trump is taking actions that worsen survivors access to lifesaving protections, including repealing ICE’s Protected Areas (or sensitive zones) policy. Rescinding the policy, some version of which has been in place since 2011, allows ICE agents to enter sensitive locations like hospitals and domestic violence shelters to arrest and deport migrants. Knowing that they may be targeted by ICE at a shelter or emergency room may force survivors into impossible choices between their immediate safety and arrest and deportation.
Public safety and protecting women from violence are essential priorities for our elected officials. But these actions do not advance that goal. We must reject the false promise of laws that protect women in name only and advance policies that keep everyone in our communities safe.
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