What Is the Laken Riley Act?
The Laken Riley Act is a federal law that requires immigration agents to jail certain immigrants who are arrested for, charged with, or admit to theft-related crimes, with no bond hearing, until their immigration case ends. It applies from the moment of arrest, not conviction. President Trump signed it on January 29, 2025, as Public Law 119-1, the first law of his second term.
Detention on arrest, not on conviction. The law adds these arrests to the list of cases where immigration detention is mandatory, which removes both the agents’ discretion to release someone and a judge’s power to set bond.
Key facts
- Covered offenses are burglary, theft, larceny, shoplifting, assaulting a police officer, and any crime causing death or serious injury (Public Law 119-1).
- It covers people who were never lawfully admitted, lack valid entry papers, or used fraud to seek entry.
- An internal ICE estimate put the first-year cost at $26.9 billion, with about 110,000 more detention beds (NPR).
- The government does not publish how many people it has detained under the law (KPBS).
If you or someone you love faces immigration detention, the National Immigration Legal Services Directory lists nonprofits that give free or low-cost immigration legal help, searchable by state, county, or detention facility. To report ICE or CBP activity, or if someone is having problems with immigration agents, call United We Dream’s MigraWatch hotline at 1-844-363-1423.
Who the Law Has Held Without Bond
The law’s effect shows up in individual cases, because no public count exists. Three documented cases show what an arrest, rather than a verdict, can set in motion.
An 18-year-old arrested for shoplifting. Local Massachusetts police arrested him on a shoplifting accusation on July 4, 2025. He had come to the United States as an unaccompanied child in 2021 and held Special Immigrant Juvenile Status, which protects young people who were abused, abandoned, or neglected. He had no pending charges and no convictions, yet he spent more than two months in immigration detention without a bond hearing, until a federal judge ruled that holding him that way violated due process (ACLU).
A Los Angeles business owner whose case was dismissed. He was arrested for receiving stolen property, and a county judge dismissed the criminal case. An immigration judge still cited the Laken Riley Act to keep him detained. He spent about a month and a half in custody, had to shut down his business, and fell behind on his mortgage, his lawyer Carlos Barrios told KPBS in August 2026.
A San Diego man who was never charged. An ICE officer’s unsigned report said he resisted arrest and assaulted an officer. He was never arrested for a crime or charged, yet the immigration judge invoked the law, according to court documents and his representative, Noah Montague (KPBS).
What Triggers Detention Under the Law
Before the Laken Riley Act, a shoplifting arrest did not automatically lead to immigration detention, and an immigration judge could set bond. The law changes each step of that process for the people it covers.
Immigration detention before and after the Laken Riley Act
The row on how long detention lasts is where the law bites hardest. The criminal case and the immigration case run on separate tracks, so a dropped shoplifting charge does not end detention that the arrest started.
How the Law Came About
The law traces a line from a 2023 shoplifting arrest to a 2024 murder to the first law of a new term. Jose Ibarra was released after he crossed the border in 2022, arrested for shoplifting in Georgia and released in 2023, and convicted of murdering Laken Riley in 2024. The law named for her passed in January 2025, and the first known court ruling against its no-bond detention came that September.
- Ibarra crosses and is released Border agents apprehend him near El Paso and release him into the country.
- Georgia shoplifting citation Athens police cite him for shoplifting from a Walmart.
- Laken Riley murdered in Georgia The 22-year-old nursing student is killed while running near the University of Georgia.
- Ibarra convicted, life without parole A judge finds him guilty on all 10 counts after a bench trial.
- Laken Riley Act signed Detention on arrest becomes mandatory for covered offenses.
- First known ruling on no-bond detention A federal judge in Boston rules that holding an 18-year-old without a bond hearing violated due process.
Sources: ICE statement via ABC News; Atlanta Journal-Constitution; Associated Press; Public Law 119-1; ACLU.
From a shoplifting arrest to the first court ruling, 2022 to 2025: Sep 2022: Ibarra crosses and is released (Border agents apprehend him near El Paso and release him into the country.). Oct 2023: Georgia shoplifting citation (Athens police cite him for shoplifting from a Walmart.). Feb 2024: Laken Riley murdered in Georgia (The 22-year-old nursing student is killed while running near the University of Georgia.). Nov 2024: Ibarra convicted, life without parole (A judge finds him guilty on all 10 counts after a bench trial.). Jan 2025: Laken Riley Act signed (Detention on arrest becomes mandatory for covered offenses.). Sep 2025: First known ruling on no-bond detention (A federal judge in Boston rules that holding an 18-year-old without a bond hearing violated due process.).
2022: Jose Ibarra, a Venezuelan national, crossed the border near El Paso in September 2022. Federal agents apprehended him and released him into the country; ICE said he “was paroled and released for further processing” (ABC News).
2023: Police in Athens, Georgia, cited Ibarra in October 2023, accusing him of shoplifting about $200 worth of clothing and food from a Walmart, and gave him information about a pre-arrest diversion program (Atlanta Journal-Constitution). This is the case the law’s supporters point to, saying the Laken Riley Act would have required immigration detention.
2024: Laken Riley, a 22-year-old Augusta University nursing student, was murdered on February 22, 2024, while running near the University of Georgia in Athens. On November 20, 2024, after Ibarra waived a jury, a judge found him guilty on all 10 counts and sentenced him to life in prison without parole (Associated Press).
2025: The Senate passed the bill 64-35 on January 20, with 12 Democrats voting yes, and the House passed it 263-156 on January 22, with 46 Democrats joining every Republican (House Clerk). President Trump signed it on January 29. On September 5, Judge Indira Talwani issued the first ruling against the law’s no-bond detention.
What the Laken Riley Act Costs
ICE’s own estimate said the law would cost $26.9 billion in its first year, because detaining people on arrest requires far more beds than the agency had.
- $26.9B
- first-year cost, internal ICE estimate
- 110,000
- more detention beds ICE said it would need
- $83B
- three-year cost projected by Senate Appropriations Democrats
The $83 billion projection came from Democratic staff on the Senate Appropriations Committee, in a memo that also cited ICE’s estimates, as Semafor reported in January 2025. Neither figure is a Congressional Budget Office score.
ICE held 65,765 people on July 11, 2026, and 70.6% of them had no criminal conviction (TRAC). How many of them are held under the Laken Riley Act is not public, and the law is one of several policies that keep people detained.
Correction, September 24, 2026: an earlier version of this page attributed the $83 billion estimate to the Congressional Budget Office. It came from Senate Appropriations Committee Democratic staff.
What Courts Have Said About No-Bond Detention
What the ACLU called the first decision to address the law’s mandatory detention came on September 5, 2025. In Doe v. Moniz, Judge Indira Talwani of the U.S. District Court in Boston ruled that jailing the 18-year-old from the shoplifting case without a bond hearing violated due process, and she ordered his release unless he got a hearing by September 10 (ACLU).
Where things stand, verified October 8, 2026
- The law: in force. Immigration judges were still citing it to hold people in August 2026, KPBS reported.
- The courts: judges have ruled on individual detentions, starting with Doe v. Moniz. That ruling applied to one person and did not strike down the law.
- The data: the government does not publish how many people are held under the law, according to KPBS reporting in August 2026.
The Laken Riley Act is separate from a July 8, 2025 ICE memo, later adopted by the Board of Immigration Appeals in Matter of Yajure Hurtado, that treats many people who entered without inspection as ineligible for a bond hearing (National Immigration Forum). Both keep people detained without a hearing, but they rest on different legal authority and are fought in different cases.
The Case For and Against the Law
Serious people disagree about the Laken Riley Act, and each side starts from a real fact.
The case for the law comes from its sponsors, Senator Katie Britt and Representative Mike Collins, and the 64 senators and 263 House members who voted yes. They point to Ibarra’s October 2023 shoplifting citation: had agents been required to detain him then, he would have been in custody that February. Britt has said the law also gives states standing to sue federal officials who refuse to enforce immigration law (Sen. Britt).
The case against comes from the ACLU, the National Immigration Law Center, and the National Immigrant Justice Center. They argue that detention on arrest alone, with no bond hearing, punishes people before any court finds them guilty, and that it has already held people whose charges were dropped or never filed. NIJC also objected that the state lawsuits put deportation decisions “at the mercy of state politicians” (NIJC), and Senate Appropriations Committee Democrats objected to the cost.
Not every detention under the law is in dispute, either. The law also covers people convicted of the listed crimes, and critics’ objection centers on the arrests and charges that never become convictions.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many people have been detained under the Laken Riley Act?
No one outside the government knows. The federal government does not publicly provide records of how many people the law affects, KPBS reported in August 2026, so what is known comes from individual cases that lawyers and court records describe.
Does the Laken Riley Act apply to everyone without legal status?
No. It applies to people who are inadmissible under three parts of immigration law: those present without being admitted or paroled, those without valid entry documents, and those who used fraud or misrepresentation to seek entry. Even then, it requires detention only when the person is charged with, arrested for, convicted of, or admits to one of the listed crimes, such as theft or burglary.
Can states sue under the Laken Riley Act?
Yes. A state attorney general who claims harm to the state or its residents, including financial harm over $100, can sue the Secretary of Homeland Security, and in release and bond cases the U.S. Attorney General, over release, bond, parole, or detention decisions. A state can also sue the Secretary of State over certain visa sanctions. The suits ask a court for an order, not money.
What You Can Do
- If someone you know is detained after an arrest, get a lawyer involved fast. The National Immigration Legal Services Directory lists nonprofits that give free and low-cost help, searchable by detention facility. Ask the lawyer whether a federal court petition for a bond hearing fits the case, as it did in Doe v. Moniz. This page is not legal advice.
- If a criminal charge was dropped or dismissed, get the paperwork to the immigration lawyer. A dismissal does not end immigration detention on its own, so the lawyer needs the court record to argue for release.
- Support detention legal aid. People in immigration detention have no right to a lawyer paid for by the government. Donations and volunteer hours at groups like the National Immigrant Justice Center pay for representation.
- Ask Congress to require a conviction before mandatory detention. Tell your senators and representative to amend the Laken Riley Act so arrests alone no longer require detention, and so people who are held get a bond hearing. Use the letter and call script below.