Senator Gallego cosponsors Laken Riley Act to detain migrants who commit theft

YUMA, Ariz. (KYMA, KECY) - U.S. Senator Ruben Gallego cosponsored the Laken Riley Act Wednesday.

The Laken Riley Act requires Immigration enforcement to arrest illegal migrants if they committed theft. The migrants would then be detained until removed from the U.S.

“Arizonans know the real-life consequences of today’s border crisis,” said Senator Ruben Gallego (D-AZ). “We must give law enforcement the means to take action when illegal immigrants break the law, to prevent situations like what occurred to Laken Riley. I will continue to fight for the safety of Arizonans by pushing for comprehensive immigration reform and increased border security.” 

Senator Gallego shares why he decided to co-sponsor the bill.

“To be able to have more say in the process to be able to potentially amend the bill if we need some fixing and to be able to overall be involved in kind of border security as well as immigration reform,” said Senator Gallego.

Yuma County Supervisor Tony Reyes is in favor of the act, but would still like more to be done.

“It solves a problem but it isn’t really the big problem, the big problem is our immigration system is broken, is should be fixed, it shouldn’t be pieces meals, it shouldn’t be bandaids like this,” said Reyes.

Democratic Arizona State Senator Brian Fernandez is in support of the act.

“This is not a perfect solution but I think what it really demonstrates is that our immigration system is broken it needs to be fixed it needs a whole sale fix,” said Senator Fernandez.

The Senate will vote on the act this Friday.