House passes immigrant detention bill that would be Trump's first law to
sign
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 [January 23, 2025]
By STEPHEN GROVES
WASHINGTON (AP) — The House on Wednesday gave final approval to a bill
that requires the detainment of unauthorized immigrants accused of theft
and violent crimes, marking the first legislation that President Donald
Trump can sign as Congress, with some bipartisan support, swiftly moved
in line with his plans to crackdown on illegal immigration.
Passage of the Laken Riley Act, which was named after a Georgia nursing
student who was murdered last year by a Venezuelan man, shows just how
sharply the political debate over immigration has shifted to the right
following Trump's election victory. Immigration policy has often been
one of the most entrenched issues in Congress, but a crucial faction of
46 politically vulnerable Democrats joined with Republicans to lift the
strict proposal to passage on a 263-156 vote tally.
“For decades, it has been almost impossible for our government to agree
on solutions for the problems at our border and within our country,”
said Sen. Katie Britt, an Alabama Republican. She called the legislation
“perhaps the most significant immigration enforcement bill” to be passed
by Congress in nearly three decades.
Still, the bill would require a massive ramp-up in U.S. Immigration and
Customs Enforcement's capabilities, but does not include any new
funding.
Meanwhile, the new president has launched a slew of executive orders
intended to seal off the border of Mexico to immigration and ultimately
deport millions of immigrants without permanent legal status in the U.S.
On Wednesday, Trump also canceled refugee resettlement and his
administration has signaled intentions to prosecute local law
enforcement officials who do not enforce his new immigration policies.
Republican congressional leaders have made it clear they intend to
follow suit, though their toughest challenge will be finding a way to
approve the funding to actually implement Trump’s hard-line plans.
“What he’s doing is kickstarting what will ultimately be our legislative
agenda,” said House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La.
House Republicans initially passed the legislation last year with
support from 37 Democrats in a move that was intended to deliver a
political rebuke to then-President Joe Biden’s handling of the southern
border. It then languished in the Democratic-controlled Senate.
This year, Republicans, now with control of both congressional chambers,
have made it their top priority. When it came before the Senate, 12
Democrats voted in favor of passage, and when the House voted on a
version of the bill earlier this month, 48 Democrats supported it.
The vast majority of U.S. adults favor deporting immigrants convicted of
violent crimes, according to a recent survey from The Associated Press-NORC
Center for Public Affairs Research. However, only about 37% of U.S.
adults are in favor of deporting immigrants in the U.S. illegally who
have not been convicted of a crime.
“While the bill is not perfect, it sends a clear message that we think
that criminals should be deported,” said Rep. Tom Suozzi, a New York
Democrat who has called on his party to support tougher immigration
enforcement.
Under the legislation, federal authorities would be required to detain
any migrant arrested or charged with crimes like shoplifting. The scope
of the proposal was widened in the Senate to also include those accused
of assaulting a police officer or crimes that injure or kill someone.
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Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., speaks to reporters on Capitol Hill,
Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
The bill also gives legal standing to state attorneys general to sue
the federal government for harm caused by federal immigration
decisions. That gives states new power in setting immigration policy
when they have already been trying to push back against presidential
decisions under both the Trump and Biden administrations. Democrats
unsuccessfully pushed to have that provision stripped from the bill
in the Senate, saying it would inject even more uncertainty and
partisanship into immigration policy.
Ultimately, even the Trump administration is likely to struggle to
implement the new requirements unless Congress follows up later this
year with funding. Republicans are currently strategizing how to
push their priorities through Congress through a party-line process
known as budget reconciliation. They have put the cost of funding
Trump’s border and deportation priorities at roughly $100 billion.
Trump has “laid out the largest domestic logistical undertaking of
our lifetimes -- that being the deportation of the vast majority of
illegal aliens present in the United States," Ken Cuccinelli, who
directed U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services during Trump’s
first presidency, told a Senate panel recently.
Cuccinelli said it would require a surge of immigration judges,
prosecutors and other staff, but Trump has also paved the way to use
military troops, bases and other resources to carry out the mass
deportations.
The Department of Homeland Security has estimated the Laken Riley
Act would cost $26.9 billion in the first year to implement,
including an increase of 110,000 ICE detention beds.
Most Democrats criticized the lack of funding in the bill as proof
that it is a piecemeal approach that would do little to fix problems
in the immigration system, but saddle federal authorities with new
requirements.
“The bill’s authors claimed it’s going to result in the arrest and
detention of serious criminals, but it will not do that because it’s
a totally unfunded mandate,” said Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn.
Others raised concerns that the bill would strip due process rights
for migrants, including minors or recipients of the Deferred Action
for Unaccompanied Arrivals program. Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif.,
said that federal authorities would now be forced to prioritize the
detention of migrants arrested for low-level crimes like
shoplifting, rather than those who commit violent felonies.
On the whole, there is no evidence that immigrants are more prone to
violent crime. Several studies have found immigrants commit lower
rates of crime than those born in the U.S. Groups that advocate for
restrictive immigration policies dispute or dismiss those findings.
But Republicans pointed to the bill’s namesake, Laken Riley, and how
she was killed by a Venezuelan migrant who had previously been
arrested by local authorities but released as he pursued his
immigration case.
“If this act had been the law of the land, he never would have had
the opportunity to kill her,” said Rep. Mike Collins, R-Ga.
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