The Laken Riley Act, which gives the government more authority to deport illegal immigrants accused of crimes, was signed into law by President Donald Trump on Wednesday. Of particular note, is that during the signing service, he also announced plans to move the “most risky” legal immigrants to a detention centre in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
” Some are so risky that we don’t believe their home countries to keep them in prison, so we’re going to take them to Guantanamo”, he stated. He ordered national authorities to set up the Cuban detention facility for these individuals ‘ arrivals.
” We have 30, 000 rooms in Guantanamo to home the worst offender criminals who pose a risk to Americans”, he added.
The bipartisan bill, which is the first passed in Trump’s subsequent term, is named for Georgian nursing student Laken Riley, who painfully was killed last year by an unauthorized Venezuelan national. When Rio was jogging in February of 2024 when an illegal Venezuelan refugee named Jose Antonio Ibarra killed her. Ibarra, convicted in November, received a life sentence without pardon.
” She was a pillar of comfort and kindness”, Trump remarked at the occasion, which was attended by Riley’s home. ” We are doing a strong tribute to her recollection,” she said. It is incredibly terrible that such measures are required.
Placement in Guantanamo Bay may harm their physical and mental well-being, according to Stacy Suh, system director for the Detention Watch Network.” Guantanamo Bay has a well-documented history of human rights abuses.
Trump defended the determination, arguing that it would significantly increase detention power. A senior administration official, speaking secretly, emphasized that the facility had building individuals deemed” too risky to transfer” and “difficult to deport”.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth praised the military’s ability to quickly set up the detention facility and called Guantanamo” an appropriate area.”
Hegseth said in an appointment with Fox News that outlawed legal foreigners may not be in the United States longer than is absolutely necessary. They may remain imprisoned there until their countries of origin are reached.
Kristi Noem, the administration’s secretary of homeland security, stated that the program would be funded by upcoming legislative spending bills.
Inmates from the war on terror have generally been residing at the U.S. military base in Guantanamo. Additionally, it runs a Migrant Operations Center, where people who have been detained at lake, including some from Haiti and Cuba, have been detained.
Riley’s family, speaking at the drafting meeting, expressed appreciation to Trump. ” He promised to secure our borders and respect Laken’s recollection, and he has kept his word”, she said sadly.
Some Republican lawmakers and Democrat Senator John Fetterman, a co-sponsor of the act, attended the event.
