TOPEKA — The four U.S. House members from Kansas voted to approve legislation to compel federal law enforcement to detain for possible deportation undocumented immigrants accused of nonviolent property crimes.
Legislation sent to the U.S. Senate would expand the list of charges requiring a person in the United States without authorization to be held by federal authorities to include shoplifting, larceny, burglary and theft. The measure would provide state attorneys general standing to sue federal immigration officials who declined to follow immigration law.
THE BILL WAS named in honor of Laken Riley, an Augusta University nursing student killed in 2024 by an undocumented Venezuelan immigrant who had a prior arrest record for shoplifting.
U.S. Rep. Derek Schmidt, the Republican serving the 2nd District in eastern Kansas, said the Riley Act was “a strong first step to begin fixing” border security issues. Schmidt was the Kansas attorney general prior to election to Congress in November.
“As attorney general, I saw far too many cases of illegal immigrants with prior, lesser offenses committing violent crimes. It’s unacceptable and must stop,” said Schmidt, who was a cosponsor of the bill. “I’m confident it’s the first of many actions we take this year to secure our borders and improve community safety.”
REPUBLICAN U.S. Reps. Tracey Mann of the 1st District and Ron Estes of the 4th District voted for the bill along with Democratic U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids of the 3rd District in the Kansas City area. Davids was among 48 House Democrats to vote with the Republican majority.
Estes, serving a district that covers Wichita, said it was significant the first legislative vote of the new Congress was on the Riley Act. It represented a “common sense” step to better secure the nation, he said.
On Tuesday, the House vote was 264-159. The legislation would require bipartisan support in the U.S. Senate to advance. At least seven Democrats would need to join the 53 Republicans in the Senate to move the bill to the White House.
PRESIDENT-ELECT Donald Trump, who takes office Jan. 20, and congressional Republicans have called for a border crackdown. Their agenda has included holding asylum applicants outside the United States and withdrawal of federal funding to cities that don’t cooperate with federal immigration enforcement officers.
Under existing federal law, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement requests detainers on undocumented immigrants convicted of burglary, robbery, kidnapping, homicide, sexual assault, drug trafficking, human trafficking and weapons offenses. Noncitizens convicted of at least two petty offenses are subject to potential deportation under federal statute.
