Peggy Flanagan blasts Laken Riley Act as ‘green light’ for ICE crackdown after Sanders endorsement
🚨 DISGUSTING: A GOVERNOR DEFENDS CRIMINALS WHILE MOCKING THE LAKEN RILEY ACT 🚨
— Jack Danger (@JackDangerLIVE) May 3, 2026
Let’s get this straight.
A young American woman was brutally murdered. Her name was Laken Riley. Her death wasn’t politics, it was a tragedy that should’ve NEVER happened.
And now you’ve got… pic.twitter.com/vB483U4n5W
ROCHESTER, MINNESOTA: Minnesota Lt. Governor and Senate candidate Peggy Flanagan blasted the Laken Riley Act during a ‘stop oligarchy’ rally led by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on Saturday, May 2, shortly after receiving his endorsement.
In the latest polling average, Peggy Flanagan trails Angie Craig in the Democratic Senate primary race. Flanagan is running to take over from Tina Smith, who is stepping down and has reportedly shown support for her at a rally.
Flanagan denounces Laken Riley Act at Bernie Sanders rally
During her speech, while criticizing the Laken Riley Act, Flanagan mentioned two anti-ICE activists, Alex Pretti and Renee Good, who were killed in a confrontation with law enforcement earlier this year during immigration enforcement-related unrest.
“We’ve got to zoom out for a second and we have to talk about how we got here, because this also wasn’t an accident. Donald Trump ran on an agenda where we knew that ICE would be more powerful,” Flanagan said.
"This didn’t just sneak up on us. It wasn’t in the fine print. There were literally gigantic signs that said, mass deportees now. It was not a secret. And the very first vote in the second Trump administration that he brought forward was for the Laken Riley Act.“
Flanagan calls Laken Riley Act ‘green light’ for ICE crackdown
Flanagan described the act as a tool to harass immigrants and deny them due process, saying it enables detention of adults and children.
Critics argue that it allows authorities to take action without giving individuals a fair chance to defend themselves or go through proper legal procedures.
“It was the green light to give ICE unprecedented power to totally terrorize our communities,” Flanagan went on.
She said she sees a direct link between the Laken Riley Act vote and unrest in places like Minneapolis. She also praised Tina Smith and Amy Klobuchar for voting against the bill.
The Senate candidate criticized Angie Craig for being the only Minnesota Democrat to support the act, although Craig has since said she regrets that vote.
What is the Laken Riley Act and its provisions
The Laken Riley Act is named after a Georgia nursing student who was killed by an undocumented immigrant, and it gives state attorneys general the right to sue the federal government over immigration policy failures.
Signed into law in early 2025, the act mandates that federal immigration officials detain undocumented immigrants charged with theft, shoplifting, burglary, or assault of a police officer.
