Josh Riley Votes To deprive Immigrants of right to fair trial
Why did Josh Riley vote for legislation that will help Donald Trump to enact his plan for fascist scapegoating and punishment of immigrants in America?
Ithaca voters want an explanation. So far, Congressman Josh Riley has offered only silence.
Welcome to Josh Riley Watch, a podcast that tracks the legislative actions of Representative Josh Riley in the US Congress.
The topic of today’s episode is Congressman Josh Riley's vote for H.R. 29, the Laken Riley Act. This bill has generated significant controversy due to its potential impact on immigrants and due process rights. The Laken Riley Act takes away the right to fair trial, not just from undocumented immigrants, but also from many immigrants who are legally authorized to be in the United States, including Dreamers and refugees from political violence.
H.R. 29 requires local law enforcement to send these legal immigrants to squalid Department of Homeland Security prison camps if they have been merely accused of shoplifting a candy bar - even if no criminal charges are filed, or criminal charges are dropped due to lack of evidence or mistaken identity. The State of Texas has offered thousands of acres of its public lands for the construction of massive new prisons that can only be described as concentration camps - a place to imprison members of a scapegoated minority that has been targeted by a new fascist government eager to whip up and exploit baseless passions of nationalistic xenophobia.
The Laken Riley Act undermines fundamental freedoms and exposes residents of Upstate New York to the risk of being sent to detention centers run by the Department of Homeland Security. In a New York Times column yesterday, Michelle Goldberg identified the move by Josh Riley and other congressional Democrats to vote for H.R. 29 as an example of “a terrible habit, during moments of right-wing backlash, of voting for Republican legislation that they don’t seem to truly believe in and eventually live to regret.”
I want to make it clear that the majority of Democrats in the House of Representatives did the right thing, and voted against H.R. 29. The question I want to confront during this episode is this: Why, in his first vote on a standalone bill in the U.S. House of Representative, did Josh Riley give in to pressure from the incoming Trump administration and vote for legislation that will help Donald Trump to enact his plan for fascist scapegoating and punishment of immigrants in America?
Still, a minority of Democrats in the US House broke ranks to join the MAGA Republicans to vote for H.R. 29. Goldberg ranks their vote for the Laken Riley Act as one of the most cowardly betrayals by congressional Democrats in the last 50 years. She compares it Hillary Clinton’s vote in favor of the Iraq War, and the cooperation by many Democrats with the anti-LGBTQ Defense of Marriage Act.
Goldberg writes of the Laken Riley Act:
“This sweeping bill will upend our immigration system in ways that will outlast Donald Trump’s presidency, ruining lives and handcuffing future Democratic administrations. Democrats who vote for it may dodge right-wing attacks in the next election, but once its true scope becomes clear, they’ll be answering for it for years to come.”
At the heart of the outrage felt by Ithaca voters is the Laken Riley Act’s mandatory detention provision for undocumented immigrants accused of theft or shoplifting, even if they are ultimately found innocent. Democratic Congressman Jerrold Nadler, representing a district elsewhere in New York State, rose to the floor of the US House to strongly condemn this aspect of the bill, arguing that it disregards the presumption of innocence and will lead to the detention of individuals based on mere accusations or mistaken identity.
Nadler said:
“Among other things, this legislation would subject to mandatory detention any undocumented immigrants who are merely charged with committing an act of theft or shoplifting even if they are innocent. This means that someone who's merely accused of shoplifting, someone who might be innocent, who might be the victim of mistaken identity and was not had the opportunity to clear his name would be subject to mandatory detention. This bill is so bad that it would lead to the detention of people who have committed no crime and have no intention of harming anyone. That flies in the face of all notions of basic due process and reason. It's both pernicious and absurd. And because this bill is so sweeping, even Dreamers and people living here on temporary protected Status, people may have lived here in this country for decades and shortly after their birth could be subject to the bill's harsh provisions.”
Congressman Jamie Raskin echoed these concerns, highlighting the bill's departure from established legal norms. Raskin emphasized that current law already requires mandatory detention only for individuals convicted of crimes, or those who admit to their guilt. The Laken Riley Act, however, extends mandatory detention to those merely accused of minor offenses, making it unconstitutional and raising serious fears of its potential for abuse.
Raskin stated:
“This bill would upend 28 years of mandatory immigration detention policy by requiring that any undocumented immigrant arrested for theft, larceny or shoplifting be detained even if they are never convicted or even charged with a crime. This is a radical departure from current law, which since 1996 has generally required mandatory detention only for persons who are criminally convicted or who admit to having committed certain serious crimes. That is when criminal guilt is certain and established beyond a reasonable doubt.”
Adding to the controversy is Congressman Riley's lack of public justification for his vote. He has not issued a statement, press release, or offered any explanation to his constituents regarding his support for this contentious legislation. This silence has fueled angry criticism among residents of Ithaca and Tompkins County who voted for Josh Riley just a few weeks ago.
While proponents of the bill argue that it aims to keep undocumented criminals off the streets, opponents point out that the Laken Riley Act introduces sweeping changes to the immigration system without any evidence to suggest that undocumented immigrants commit more crimes than native-born citizens. Research has consistently shown that immigrants in the United States are actually less likely to commit violent crimes compared to American citizens.
To summarize the problems with H.R. 29:
The bill requires local and state law enforcement to target individuals who are arrested but not charged with any crime, and those charged but not convicted. The new law will ensnare individuals mistakenly arrested due to police errors in a system that deprives them of their rights, sending them off to harsh Department of Homeland Security prison camps. This provision effectively strips individuals of their right to a fair trial, a cornerstone of the American legal system.
The act extends its reach to individuals legally residing and working in the United States, including Dreamers, refugees seeking assylum, legal immigrants awaiting green cards, and even children. The broad scope of the people that H.R. 29 targets creates a huge potential to disrupt the lives of law-abiding individuals and families. Entire communities, including citizens of the United States, will be irreparably harmed, socially and economically, if law enforcement complies with the provisions of this new law.
The legislation empowers states and federal courts to potentially overrule immigration decisions made by the Executive Branch. This shift in power could result in states like Texas inundating federal courts with lawsuits aimed at increasing immigrant detention. A cascade of legal actions by the most extreme MAGA state governments could easily lead to the rapid development of a system of concentration camps with so many prisoners packed so tightly together that human rights abuses would be almost certain to take place.
The Laken Riley Act grants federal courts the authority to impose travel bans on entire countries that refuse to accept deportations from the U.S. This means that foreign students, professional experts, and other people who have been welcomed as legal travelers to the United States could suddenly have their visas revoked. Such travel bans will trigger diplomatic crises, disrupt global trade, and harm the American economy by exacerbating existing trade tensions already made worse by Donald Trump’s belligerent threats and insults of America’s allies.
Josh Riley loves to talk about the values of the people that he represents. So, okay, let’s talk about New York values. Let’s talk about the Statue of Liberty, a patriotic emblem of both New York State and the United States of America. Does Josh Riley remember what the Statue of Liberty represents?
On the Statue of Liberty, there is a plaque with a poem by Emma Lazarus. The title of that poem is The New Colossus. The poem is a declaration promising that the United States of America will welcome immigrants fleeing persecution and poverty in other countries.
Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she
With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!
Congressman Riley’s vote for H.R. 29 is a repudiation of the values of Emma Lazarus. They are a slap in the face of the heritage of New York State as a bastion of diversity. Oh, I know that diversity is a word that we’re all supposed to be ashamed to use under the new fascist MAGA government, but here in Ithaca, we still believe in diversity.
Really, diversity used to be a value Americans could rally around. It’s on our coins: E pluribus unum. Yes, we are one nation, but we come from many different places. If our nation can no longer stand up and be proud of that, let’s just remove e pluribus unum from the currency of the USA.
Will you do that, Josh Riley? Will you write or co-sponsor a bill that removes e pluribus unum from America’s coins, replacing it with the simple unum? If you can’t respect the diversity of America and defend it from scurrilous fearmongering of the sort that motivates the Laken Riley Act, you might at least have the decency to be honest about it.
For that matter, if Representative Josh Riley doesn’t have the courage to stand up for the values of the Statue of Liberty and The New Colossus, then he should be honest about it. He should, to express his new MAGA ideology, introduce legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives to dismantle the Statue of Liberty and sell it as scrap metal.
Congressman Riley's vote for the Laken Riley Act has ignited a fierce backlash among his constituents in Ithaca and Tompkins County. They are outraged at the legislation’s attacks on due process of law, the constitutional right to a fair trial, and its irrational scapegoating of immigrants.
As of today, Josh Riley has yet to make any public statement about his vote to approve the fascist H.R. 29. Though, he appeared as a guest on a radio show shortly after the approval of H.R. 29, Congressman Riley silence in the face of mounting criticism has only intensified scrutiny of his actions and raised doubts about his commitment to representing the interests and values of his constituents.
People in Ithaca are rightly worried. They’re wondering if Josh Riley has decided to betray their trust and join Donald Trump’s MAGA movement. Of course, Josh Riley’s disturbing support for H.R. 29 is just one vote out of many to come over the next two years.
It would be unfair to reject Josh Riley just because of this one vote. Maybe Congressman Riley, newly arrived in Washington DC got in over his head, and made one bad decision. Perhaps he will make up for this rotten vote with many other positive ones affirming the anti-fascist, pro-democracy values of the constituents who elected him.
Josh Riley Watch is going to keep on watching what Josh Riley does with his power as a member of the US House of Representatives. This podcast will keep on profiling Riley’s actions on significant legislation, whether that action is positive or negative, so that the voters of Ithaca and Tompkins County can make an informed decision in the election of November 2026.
Stay tuned, because we’ve got a lot to talk about.