When President-elect Donald Trump assumes office on January 20, he hopes to sign the Laken Riley Act (H.R.29) into law. The House passed the measure 264-159 on Tuesday with 48 Democrats joining every Republican to approve the measure – the first piece of legislation of the new 119th Congress. It moved on to the Senate on Wednesday, where a vote is expected early next week.
UPDATE: Senate Dems noncomittal on Laken Riley Act
The bill is named in honor of Laken Riley, a nursing student who was killed by an illegal alien in February 2024 while she was jogging on the campus of the University of Georgia in Athen, GA. The measure would require federal immigration authorities to detain illegals found guilty of theft-related crimes (i.e., burglary, theft, larceny, or shoplifting). It also would allow states to sue the Department of Homeland Security for harm caused to their citizens because of illegal immigration.
Art Arthur, a resident fellow in law and policy at the Center for Immigration Studies, tells AFN he's convinced the House Democrats who supported the bill reacted to the results of the November 5th election.
"They know that voters are displeased with the open border, [and] they know that voters are concerned about migrant crime," he shares. "[Voters] want responses to this, and [these Democrats] are acting on behalf of their constituents."
A "significant portion" of the Democratic base, according to Arthur, opposes any sort of restrictions on immigration.
"But the flip side of that is states are full of people who want to know that when they send their kids to college that they're not going to end up senselessly murdered in an attempted rape," he exclaims.
"I think there's going to be a lot of pressure on Democrats in the Senate to vote in favor of this … I would put the odds somewhere less than 50%," he adds. "But we never know what the future is going to bring, and there are a lot of Democrats who didn't have to vote for this bill who did."
Among the 54 cosponsors of H.R.29 is one Democrat: Rep. Henry Cuellar, who represents the 28th district of Texas, which borders Mexico near the southern-most part of the state.
Homan? Oh man!
Even though Donald Trump doesn't take the reins of power until January 20, senators in the new 119th Congress will be able to start confirmation hearings for his Cabinet and department nominees now. But one Trump official who won't need confirmation is "border czar" Tom Homan, who has made it clear that the border will be closed and illegal alien criminals will be deported.
Robert Spencer of Jihad Watch can hardly wait until Homan begins his job in the Trump administration.
"[He] is absolutely determined and takes no nonsense in regard to the mass deportations that have to take place now to deal with all these illegal migrants in the country," says the author and terrorism expert. "I'm confident that in the course of that action he will find and remove a lot of these potential or actual terrorists that Biden has let in."
Spencer describes Homan is just the kind of man needed for the job.
"[He is] not somebody who's going to quail and be afraid in front of criticism from the Left and is going to shy away from doing what needs to be done," he contends. "Biden has put this country in a terrible position bringing all these people in – and it's good to see that Tom Homan is so determined to prevent there from being any serious damage from that."
