Passage of the Laken Riley Act, which was named after a Georgia nursing student murdered by an illegal alien from Venezuela. A crucial faction of 46 politically vulnerable Democrats joined with Republicans to lift the strict proposal to passage on a 263-156 vote tally.
“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 illegal 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.
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.
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.
