In January 2025, Bryan Steil, the House member for Wisconsin's 1st District, voted twice for the Laken Riley Act, which requires the government to detain an immigrant who lacks legal status and is charged with or arrested for theft and other listed crimes, without a conviction; a lawyer told KPBS a judge kept his client detained under it after a county court dismissed the case. Most ICE arrests in Wisconsin happen in jails and prisons.
On July 3, 2025, Steil voted for the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, whose Medicaid work requirement exempts people leaving jail or prison for only three months after release. In 2020 and 2021 he voted against the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, which would have created a national police misconduct registry; the only federal misconduct database, set up by executive order, was shut down in February 2025.
Bryan Steil's Votes on Detention, Reentry and Police Accountability
- Steil Voted Twice for the Laken Riley Act, Which Jails Immigrants Without Legal Status on an Arrest or Charge Alone, in January 2025. On January 7, 2025, Bryan Steil voted for H.R. 29, the House's Laken Riley Act, which passed 264 to 159, and on January 22, 2025 he voted for S. 5, the Senate version, which passed 263 to 156 and became Public Law 119-1. The law requires detention of an immigrant who lacks legal status (is inadmissible) and "is charged with, is arrested for, is convicted of" burglary, theft, shoplifting and other listed crimes, so an arrest is enough. By August 2026, KPBS reported that "immigration judges are using the Laken Riley Act as justification for their detention," including a business owner whose receiving-stolen-property case a county judge had dismissed but who was "stuck in jail for a month-and-a-half" because an immigration judge pointed to the law, and who was at risk of losing his business, his lawyer told KPBS.
- Steil Voted for a Medicaid Work Requirement That Exempts People Leaving Prison for Only Three Months. On July 3, 2025, Steil voted for final passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, after casting one of the votes that passed the House version 215 to 214 in May. The law's work requirement exempts a person leaving jail or prison only if "at any point during the 3-month period ending on the first day of such month, the individual was an inmate of a public institution"; after that, they must document work or lose coverage, with requirements "scheduled to take effect nationwide" on January 1, 2027. Medicaid coverage for addiction and mental health care matters in the year after release: in a 2018 study cited by MindSite News, people leaving prison were 11 times more likely than other people to die of an overdose "over the course of a year" after release.
- Steil Voted Twice Against the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act and Its National Police Misconduct Registry. On June 25, 2020, Steil voted no on H.R. 7120, the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, which passed the House 236 to 181, and on March 3, 2021 he voted no on H.R. 1280, the same act, which passed 220 to 212. The 2021 bill provided for the "Establishment of National Police Misconduct Registry," a "Ban on no-knock warrants in drug cases," and incentives for "banning of chokeholds and carotid holds." Neither version became law. The national misconduct database the federal government did build, for federal officers only and by executive order, ended when the Justice Department announced in February 2025 that "user agencies can no longer add data to the National Law Enforcement Accountability Database," after the President rescinded the order that created it, JURIST reported.
What the Criminal Justice Votes Bryan Steil Cast Mean in Wisconsin
- Most ICE arrests in Wisconsin happen in jails and prisons. A Wisconsin Watch analysis reported by WPR and republished by Urban Milwaukee found that 70 percent of ICE arrests in Wisconsin happened in jails or prisons, and that arrests rose from at least 119 in May 2026 to 220 in June, concentrated in the southeastern part of the state; under the Laken Riley Act, an immigrant without legal status who is arrested on a listed charge must be detained, and KPBS reported a judge kept one man detained after his criminal case was dismissed.
- Wisconsin adults leaving prison will face the work requirement from 2027. Wisconsin's health department says the Medicaid work requirement takes effect for new BadgerCare applicants on January 1, 2027, and it applies to BadgerCare Plus adults with no dependent children at home; a person released from a Wisconsin prison or jail will have to start reporting work hours three months after release to keep the coverage that pays for addiction and mental health treatment.
Frequently Asked Questions About Bryan Steil on Criminal justice
What is Bryan Steil's record on policing and criminal justice under Trump?
Bryan Steil voted twice in January 2025 for the Laken Riley Act, which requires jailing immigrants without legal status who are only charged with or arrested for listed crimes, and in July 2025 for a law whose Medicaid work requirement exempts people leaving prison for just three months. In 2020 and 2021 he voted against the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act.
Does the Laken Riley Act Bryan Steil voted for require a conviction before detention?
No. The Laken Riley Act that Bryan Steil voted for in January 2025 makes detention mandatory for an inadmissible immigrant merely charged with or arrested for a listed crime, and KPBS reported a case in which an immigration judge relied on the law to keep a man detained after his criminal charge was dismissed.
How did Bryan Steil vote on the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act?
Bryan Steil voted against the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act both times it reached the House floor, on June 25, 2020 and March 3, 2021. The bill would have banned no-knock warrants in drug cases and set up a national registry of police misconduct.
Last updated: 2026-10-26