{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.cornyn.senate.gov/news/cornyn-lee-introduce-bill-to-prevent-criminal-non-citizens-from-skipping-bail-or-fleeing-u-s/", "Cornyn, Lee Introduce Bill to Prevent Criminal Non-Citizens From Skipping Bail or Fleeing U.S.", "2025-11-25", "2025", "2025-11", "Republican", "Senate", "TX", "John Cornyn", "C001056", "www.cornyn.senate.gov", "cornyn", "https://www.cornyn.senate.gov/news/", "scraper", "AUSTIN \u2013 U.S. Senators John Cornyn (R-TX) and Mike Lee (R-UT) introduced the Flight Risk Reduction Act, which would prevent criminal defendants who are not U.S. citizens from fleeing or failing to appear for trial:\n\n\u201cThis legislation would alter current law to help ensure criminal defendants who are not U.S. citizens are held pending trial rather than being granted bail and potentially skipping bail or fleeing the country before facing justice for their crimes, and I\u2019m glad to support it,\u201d said Sen. Cornyn.\n\n\u201cOur communities are unsafe when non-US citizens exploit loopholes to escape our justice system and continually break our laws,\u201d said Sen. Lee. \u201cJust this week in Salt Lake, a suspected rapist told our police he plans to return to Peru after his assault of a local university student. Under President Biden, more than 150,000 illegal aliens skipped their criminal hearings in 2023. That is eight times the rate from before he took office. The Flight Risk Reduction Act ensures courts have the necessary power to detain non-citizen criminals before trial, unless they can prove they are not a flight risk.\u201d\n\nThe legislation is also cosponsored by U.S. Senators Jim Banks (R-IN), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Katie Britt (R-AL), Ted Cruz (R-TX), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Josh Hawley (R-MO), Dave McCormick (R-PA), Ashley Moody (R-FL), Pete Ricketts (R-NE), and Thom Tillis (R-NC).\n\nBackground:\n\nCurrently, detention hearings are automatically triggered for certain cases to assess whether a criminal defendant might flee. The Flight Risk Reduction Act would add non-U.S. citizenship as an automatic trigger for such hearings. Additionally, it would:", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:52:45Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.cornyn.senate.gov/news/cornyn-lee-introduce-bill-to-prevent-criminal-non-citizens-from-skipping-bail-or-fleeing-u-s/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.0149977169930935, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}