On Thursday night at a CNN town hall, a Democratic congresswoman said she regretted voting for the Laken Riley Act, adding, “immigrants across this country who are here legally and have followed the law are being terrorized right now.”
The Laken Riley Act requires the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to detain illegal immigrants who have been arrested for burglary, theft, larceny, or shoplifting. It also authorizes states to sue the federal government for decisions or alleged failures related to immigration enforcement. The legislation was named after Laken Riley, who was a 22-year-old Georgia nursing student murdered in February 2024 by a 26-year-old Venezuelan illegal immigrant while she was jogging.
Rep. Jahana Hayes (D-CT) responded to a question posed by a member of the audience initially directed to Rep. Derek Tran (D-CA), who said he was concerned about the Laken Riley Act, which he said “begs the question of whether due process exists still in America.”
“So, given your background, both as an attorney and also the son of immigrants like myself, what made you vote yes on that? he asked Tran.
Tran said the Laken Riley Act “made sense” and “that when you commit a crime, you should be deported.”
Hayes disagreed with Tran’s assessment and stated, “I understand your concerns, and I understand how immigrants across this country who are here legally and have followed the law are being terrorized right now because they are unsure of what happens next,” the congresswoman said. “I voted for that piece of legislation because of a very specific provision, and it was if it caused injury or death to a police officer, which was one small piece of it.”
“As I have thought about it over the last couple months, I probably would have voted differently,” she continued. “It’s a vote that I regret. But, coming into this Congress, I trusted that this administration, we would have some — that they wanted to have border security, they wanted to work with Democrats, that we could actually move forward.”
She then attacked the Trump administration, saying, “I’m not really sure of that, because I have seen the rhetoric that has come out and the attacks that have been targeted towards immigrants. So I am very cautious and careful when I’m negotiating my votes moving forward.”
Democratic Rep. Jahana Hayes said during our town hall tonight that she regrets voting for the Laken Riley Act. pic.twitter.com/tFEP0ReBUN
— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) April 11, 2025
