5. Department of Homeland Security · Notable · Needs Congress
Change Title 8 so that aliens 'shall' be detained rather than 'may'
Printed page 150 5. Department of Homeland Security
“Mandatory detention. Congress should eliminate ambiguous discretionary language in Title 8 that aliens "may" be detained and clarify that aliens "shall" be detained.”
What has happened
- Partially done
The Laken Riley Act amends INA section 236(c) — the mandatory detention provision — to add aliens who are inadmissible under section 212(a)(6)(A), (6)(C) or (7) and who are charged with, arrested for, convicted of or admit burglary, theft, larceny, shoplifting, assault of a law enforcement officer, or any crime causing death or serious bodily injury. For that class the discretionary "may" becomes "shall": new paragraph (3) provides that the Secretary "shall issue a detainer" and "shall effectively and expeditiously take custody of the alien". That is the change the Quote asks for, enacted for one category rather than across Title 8, so `partial`.
Research log
What was searched, and what didn’t count as evidence
Research notes
A Requires-Congress ask on which Congress acted in the first ten days of the window, though only for one category of alien.
- Action
- other
- Object
- Title 8 detention language
- ID
- 364