Attorney General Ken Paxton Releases Statement After President Trump Signs the Laken Riley Act

AUSTIN, TX -- Following President Trump signing the Laken Riley Act, which will help ensure that criminal illegal aliens are detained and that attorneys general can play a larger role in enforcing immigration laws, Attorney General Ken Paxton issued the following statement:

“Joe Biden’s open borders policies have been directly responsible for devastating consequences across this country, including the tragic murder of Laken Riley. Her murder should have never happened, and I stand with President Trump in his efforts to catch and detain every single violent, criminal illegal immigrant that Joe Biden invited into this country. The Laken Riley Act will help us accomplish that mission and empower attorneys general like myself to play an even more active role in ensuring that our federal immigration laws are followed. I will continue to work with President Trump to reverse Joe Biden’s lawless open borders policies and ensure that illegal aliens who wish to harm our nation’s citizens are brought to justice.”

The Laken Riley Act expands the list of criminal acts that trigger the mandatory detention of an illegal alien, including adding crimes such as burglary, theft, larceny, shoplifting, or assault of a law enforcement officer, or any crime that results in death or serious bodily injury to another person.

The law also gives state attorneys general the power to enforce all of these mandatory detention requirements—as well as the limits on granting parole to aliens. Had this provision of the Laken Riley Act been enacted during the Biden Administration, it would have given Attorney General Paxton yet another tool to hold Biden accountable for his dangerous, radical open borders policies.