•    "It is deeply concerning, but comes as no surprise that the first piece of legislation being put forth by the Republican majority in the House of Representatives in the 119th Congress is an immigration bill that does nothing to fix our broken immigration system while instead further promoting dangerous rhetoric that criminalizes immigrants and puts innocent families at risk…This politically motivated bill will not prevent future tragedies, yet will instead make immigrant communities across our nation less safe." Rep. Adriano Espaillat (Democrat, New York, District 13)

•    "This is the first immigration bill of the new Congress, and if passed, it will strengthen President-elect Trump’s hand in unleashing mass deportations on our communities. It will force immigration authorities to detain individuals accused of nonviolent theft offenses like shoplifting regardless of whether or not law enforcement even deems them as a threat. Mandating mass detention will make us less safe, sapping resources and diverting taxpayer money away from addressing public safety needs. Detaining a mother who admits to shoplifting diapers for her baby, or elderly individuals who admit to nonviolent theft when they were teenagers, is wasteful, cruel, and unnecessary.” Source: Sarah Mehta, ACLU senior border policy counsel

•    "Existing laws already provide for detention and deportation of undocumented immigrants who are convicted of serious crimes. H.R. 29 does nothing to fund efforts to enforce those provisions, and it does not make serious attempts to make our communities safer…Instead, H.R. 29 creates new opportunities to undermine community safety and the rule of law. The bill requires detention of people who have been accused of crimes, without regard to their actual guilt, and does not provide funding for the massive increase in detentions this would cause. This denial of due process opens the door to coercion and misuse of our immigration laws… Simply put, instead of moving legislation that would adequately fund the existing immigration laws and actually achieve the goal of removing dangerous criminals from our midst. Rather than providing resources to strengthen immigration enforcement, H.R. 29 exploits a young woman’s tragic death to score cheap political points." Source: Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon (Democrat, Pennsylvania, District 5)