CONCORD, N.H. – Last week, Congress officially passed H.R. 29, the Laken Riley Act, despite strong objections from civil and immigrants’ rights organizations, including in New Hampshire. Votes and general support for the legislation came from all members of the New Hampshire federal delegation: Senator Shaheen, Senator Hassan, Congressman Pappas, and Congresswoman Goodlander. The bill poses a serious threat to civil liberties and violates bedrock constitutional principles. It is expected to be signed into law today by President Trump.
This is the first immigration bill of the new Congress and would require the government to detain people who pose no risk to their communities. Under the bill, individuals would be mandatorily locked up – potentially for years – because at some point in their lives, perhaps decades ago, they were accused of nonviolent offenses like shoplifting. The bill also invents a novel and dangerous authority that will allow hostile state officials to sue the federal government when they disapprove of an immigration decision or policy, causing even more chaos and inviting politicized lawsuits.
Congress’s passage of the Laken Riley Act – supported by New Hampshire’s Congressional delegation – has only heightened anti-immigration rhetoric in the New Hampshire State House and emboldened those in the New Hampshire legislature to advocate for harmful anti-immigration bills that, if enacted, would directly harm local immigrant communities.
The New Hampshire Immigrant Rights Network calls on New Hampshire’s delegation to understand the impact of their anti-immigration votes on Granite State communities, and to reject harmful anti-immigration bills and policies, which succumb to fear and misinformation, in the future.
Members of the New Hampshire Immigrant Rights Network denounced the vote and urged all New Hampshire lawmakers to support immigrants’ rights in the following statements:
Eva Castillo, Director, NH Alliance for Immigrants and Refugees, said, “Make no mistake: the Laken Riley Act is a massive expansion of detention and incarceration, and it is incomprehensible that our entire federal delegation voted in favor of this bill. At the same time, we are facing a number of extreme and unnecessary bills at the State House that have absolutely no place in New Hampshire. We urge lawmakers to be clear in their support for our immigrant communities, and in not allowing federal immigration mandates for local police departments, as many of the proposed state bills would do.”
David Holt, Manager, Welcoming NH, said, “It is very disappointing to see our federal delegation vote against the interests of immigrants in the Granite State by supporting such cruel and extreme legislation. We cannot allow this to become a pattern. We need their support to ensure these vibrant and important New Hampshire communities continue to thrive – and we urge them, along with every state lawmaker, to vote with their morals and humanity in mind. We will continue to closely watch their votes.”
Sarah Jane Knoy, Executive Director, Granite State Organizing Project, said, “On both the national and state levels, we are seeing unimaginable attacks on immigrants – who are our family, friends, neighbors, and who are a critical piece of our New Hampshire community. Granite Staters deserve lawmakers who will stand up for some of the most vulnerable members of our state–not support extreme bills that vilify and incarcerate them. We hope our federal delegation does better moving forward – and that our state lawmakers vote down the cruel legislation being proposed.”
Grace Kindeke, NH Program Coordinator, American Friends Service Committee, said, This Act is a deeply harmful piece of legislation that will lead to the mandatory detention and deportation of people who were arrested or charged with petty crimes as minors or young adults, even in cases where these charges were dismissed or dropped. Suspending the due process rights of people who contribute to their communities, who have U.S. citizen family members or are parents to U.S. citizen children, makes a mockery of our values as a nation. It is shameful and cruel that our federal delegation would so willingly hand over our communities to Trump’s racist deportation agenda. Granite Staters deserve better.
Amanda Azad, Policy Director at the ACLU of New Hampshire, said, “There are a number of harmful bills being taken up by lawmakers at the New Hampshire State House in the coming weeks that echo these extreme, cruel, and unnecessary attacks on immigrant communities – and that have been emboldened by Congress’s passage of the Laken Riley Act.”
