Republicans in Congress reintroduced a second immigration bill Tuesday aimed at increasing detentions named after another person allegedly killed by illegal immigrants.
Texas Senator Ted Cruz and Representative Troy E. Nehls brought back the Justice for Jocelyn Act, first introduced last year, saying it would force Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to detain as many illegal immigrants as possible despite there being a lack of beds already.
Newsweek reached out to ICE via email for comment.
Why It Matters
The legislation, named after 12-year-old Jocelyn Nungaray, who was allegedly killed by two Venezuelans in Houston last year, comes at the same time as GOP lawmakers seek to pass the Laken Riley Act. Both present a tougher stance on immigration off the back of President-elect Donald Trump's messaging during the presidential election.
What To Know
The Justice for Jocelyn Act was introduced during the previous Congress in reaction to Nungaray's killing, allegedly at the hands of Johan Jose Rangel Martinez and Franklin Jose Pena Ramos, two Venezuelan nationals in the country illegally.
Cruz has spoken often of the girl's death, which became one of several tragic cases highlighted as signs of a broken immigration system, particularly under President Joe Biden.
"The aliens responsible for her murder crossed the southern border illegally and should have been detained by ICE," Cruz said in a press release Tuesday. "Democrats' reckless open-border policies prevented ICE and Border Patrol agents from acting, left thousands of detention center beds empty, and allowed these criminals to go free."
The act would require ICE to hold as many illegal immigrants in its detention centers as it possibly can. Once there was no other option, and the secretary of Homeland Security had "exercised and exhausted all reasonable efforts" to hold them, only then could migrants be allowed out into communities with GPS tracking and a curfew.
ICE only has limited capacity, highlighting in its latest annual report in December 2024 that it had "relatively static bedspace," which "forces the agency to carefully prioritize whom it detains."
As of September 30, 2024, ICE had 37,684 immigrants in custody at its sites across the United States, up from 36,845 the previous year. The number is a small percentage of the 7.6 million migrants on ICE's docket.
Adding potentially thousands more migrants into detention facilities would not necessarily be possible under the current system. While the federal government provides funding for 41,000 detention beds, that only leaves just over 3,000 potential spare spots to cover the larger numbers both the Justice for Jocelyn and Laken Riley Acts would require.
"It isn't just human rights groups or immigrant rights groups that are saying this is going to cause operational disruption; this is going to be expensive. This is actually the immigration agency itself," Anthony Enriquez, vice president of U.S. advocacy and litigation at Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, told Newsweek. "ICE has already said to Congress: 'We need close to $3.43 billion to implement the changes that the Laken Riley Act would require.'"
That number, seen in a DHS memo obtained by Politico, would be almost double the $1.3 billion initially allocated for detentions in the 2024 Department of Homeland Security's budget without the additional funding needed to cover Cruz's bill.
An additional 60,000 beds would be needed to cover the number of migrants, which would meet the criteria set out in the Laken Riley Act, the memo said.
President Joe Biden has pushed through more measures to increase capacity, including building or opening more prisons. The private companies that operate 90 percent of the beds have predicted increased income under the next administration.
Cruz, along with his Republican colleagues pushing the Laken Riley Act, Alabama Senator Katie Britt and Georgia Representative Mike Collins, argue that action is needed to tackle illegal immigrant crime. However, neither piece of legislation offers additional funding for ICE operations at the current time.
What People Are Saying
Congressman Troy E. Nehls, in a press release: "The Venezuelan illegal aliens who murdered 12-year-old Jocelyn Nungaray should have never been released into our country. Congress must put the safety of the American people first by swiftly passing this legislation and getting it to President Trump's desk as soon as possible."
Anthony Enriquez, vice president of U.S. advocacy and litigation at Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, told Newsweek: "I think there are many groups who have analyzed the legislation and have gotten the message out that this is a bill which would not have prevented the tragic death of Laken Riley because the person who ended up being convicted of her murder was already subject to mandatory detention."
Tom Jawetz, a former DHS Deputy General Counsel, told Newsweek: "Rather than granting the agency more authority, the Laken Riley Act actually limits ICE's ability to make basic law enforcement decisions about how to use its detention beds to maximize public safety. It requires ICE to arrest and detain people who haven't even been charged or convicted of a crime—who may never be charged or convicted of a crime—even if they pose no threat to public safety and even if that means forgoing arrest and detention for people who actually do pose such a threat."
Senator Katie Britt, on CNN's State of the Union: "The Laken Riley Act is ultimately going to save lives. It is a commonsense piece of legislation, and it actually puts the talk that we have been having over the last four years into action."
What's Next
The Justice for Jocelyn Act already has support from other GOP lawmakers and has been referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee. The Laken Riley Act continues to move through the Senate after a debate on Monday and Tuesday.
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