Shortly after President Donald Trump's inauguration, the Senate passed a bill on Monday that would require federal authorities to detain migrants accused of theft and violent crimes. This is the first measure he is likely to enact, giving more weight to his plans to deport millions of migrants.
Trump has made a comprehensive crackdown on illegal immigration his top priority, and Congress shows he is ready to follow suit, with Republicans in control and some Democrats willing to go along. The bill passed by a vote of 64-35, with 12 Democrats joining and Republicans voting in favor.
The passage of the Laken-Riley Act — named after a Georgia nursing student whose murder by a Venezuelan man last year became a rallying cry for Trump's White House campaign — was a sign of Congress's clear stance on border security and immigration has made a shift to the right. The passage came just minutes before Trump signed the first of his executive orders.
“We don’t want criminals coming into our country,” Trump told supporters at the Capitol on Monday, adding that he looked forward to signing a bill “within a week or so.”
The bill now goes back to the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, which passed its version earlier this month and must approve the changes made in the Senate. The Senate expanded the legislation to cover immigrants who attack a police officer or who are accused of crimes in which someone is killed or seriously injured.
Trump is already ending many of former President Joe Biden's border and immigration programs, turning away from Democrats' attempts to pursue more humane immigration policies at a time when record numbers of people have arrived at the border with Mexico. The new Congress's rapid implementation of immigration policy was evidence that Democrats were no longer resistant to some tough enforcement proposals.
“Anyone who commits a crime should be held accountable. That’s why I voted to pass the Laken Riley Act,” Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., said on social media after its passage. Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., said a “secure border” and support for immigration are “totally compatible.”
The bill passed a key procedural vote in the Senate last week, including with support from Democrats, and similar legislation received support from 48 Democrats in the House earlier this month.
“If you enter this country illegally and commit a crime, you should not be able to move freely on the streets of this country,” said Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., who helped push the bill through the Senate.
The legislation would require federal authorities to arrest migrants accused of crimes, including shoplifting, and would give states new legal powers to challenge federal immigration decisions, including from immigration judges.
Critics of the bill say the provision will open the door for Republican attorneys general to litigate federal immigration decisions, creating even more uncertainty and partisanship in immigration policy.
Deporting millions of migrants or enforcing the Laken-Riley Act will depend largely on Congress's ability to allocate the roughly $100 billion proposed by Republicans for border security and immigration enforcement. Republicans are debating how to approve that money through a process called “budget reconciliation,” which will allow them to pass it through Congress based solely on party-line votes.
That won't be easy in the House of Representatives, where Republicans hold the majority with just a few seats. They will also face intense pressure to balance promises to curb budget deficits and concerns about the economic and humanitarian impact of mass deportations.
There are currently no appropriations attached to the Laken-Riley bill, but Democrats on the Appropriations Committee estimate the bill would cost $83 billion over the next three years, according to a memo obtained by The Associated Press. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement estimated it would need to nearly triple the number of detention beds and operate more than 80 deportation flights per week to implement the requirements, the memo said.
“That's a lot of money to spend on a bill that will cause chaos, punish legal immigrants and undermine due process in America – all while diverting resources away from real threats,” said Washington Senator Patty Murray. the leading Democrat in the Senate Appropriations Committee debate gave a speech last week.
Democrats also raised concerns about the impact on immigrants who received deportation protections under an Obama-era program called Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. During his first term in office, Trump tried to end the program, but also occasionally expressed willingness to allow those covered by it to stay in the United States
