Hickenlooper Votes Against Unamended Laken Riley Act

Hickenlooper-cosponsored amendments would've secured a pathway to citizenship for DREAMers and increased funding for border security

WASHINGTON - Today, U.S. Senator John Hickenlooper released the following statement after he voted against the Laken Riley Act:

"This country needs a serious conversation on immigration," said Hickenlooper. "The amendments we introduced were real solutions to problems with our broken immigration system. They would have provided DREAMers a pathway to citizenship, and also dramatically expanded our farm workforce. None were given a vote. I cannot support an unamended version of this bill."

The Laken Riley Act would require the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to detain non-U.S. nationals who have been charged or arrested (even if not convicted) for theft crimes, including shoplifting.

As written, the Laken Riley Act raises significant concerns. The bill has no protections for children and minors. It would mandate that kids, without having been found guilty of a crime, could be detained indefinitely and separated from their families.

The legislation would also let any state attorneys general sue the federal government over a wide range of immigration-related actions. Any immigration policy from either party would be paralyzed from going into effect as it gets held up in litigation. The legislation would undermine federal immigration enforcement and could deny due process to DACA recipients, certain TPS holders, and many undocumented individuals by subjecting them to detention without court proceedings or a conviction. To enforce this legislation, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) would also need an additional 118,500 beds and an increase in staff in detention centers, with no funding appropriated by Congress to comply with this need. Estimates place the cost of enforcing the Laken Riley Act at $83 billion for the next three years. ICE has concluded that the bill is "impossible to execute with existing resources."

Hickenlooper voted to open debate on the legislation to allow Senators to introduce amendments to the bill.

Hickenlooper introduced and cosponsored several amendments to the Laken Riley Act, including:

• Hickenlooper-led amendment to give standing to state attorney generals when DHS violates constitutional rights, including due process

• Dream and Promise Act: Adds bipartisan legislation to provide a path to citizenship for DACA recipients, Temporary Protected Status (TPS) holders, and Deferred Enforced Departures (DED) holders

• Comprehensive fixes to the Laken Riley Act: Strikes the overbroad and likely unconstitutional provision that would give state attorney generals standing to sue the federal government on immigration policies they dislike. The amendment would also add language to protect children from mandatory detention, provide due process, and use limited detention resources wisely by focusing on dangerous individuals

• DREAM Act & Affordable + Secure Food Act: Provides a pathway to citizenship for DACA recipients, provides temporary status provisions for certified agricultural workers, and reforms the H-2A Temporary Agricultural Worker program by providing H-2A visas for year-round jobs for the first time and modernizing the application process

• Funding to disrupt criminal activity at the border: Increases the amount appropriated to disrupt criminal activity at the border, including $1B to increase drug interdiction at the border and $233M to expand efforts to interdict fentanyl

• Increase in border security technology: Would require border security technology to be piloted, tested, and deployed at our northern and southern borders

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