The U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday gave final approval to a bill that requires the detainment of unauthorized migrants 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 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 Senator 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 it does not include any new funding.
Meanwhile, Trump has launched a slew of executive orders intended to seal off the U.S. border with Mexico to immigration and ultimately deport millions of migrants without permanent legal status in the U.S. On Wednesday, Trump also canceled refugee resettlement, and his administration has signaled that it intends 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. Their toughest challenge, however, will be finding a way to approve the funding to implement Trump’s hardline plans.
“What he’s doing is kickstarting what will ultimately be our legislative agenda,” said House Speaker Mike Johnson.
House Republicans initially passed the legislation last year with support from 37 Democrats. 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.
“While the bill is not perfect, it sends a clear message that we think that criminals should be deported,” said Representative 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 such as 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 at a time when they have been trying to push back against presidential decisions under both the Trump and Biden administrations.
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 strategizing how to push their priorities through Congress using 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.
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 and 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 Democratic Senator Chris Murphy.
Others raised concerns that the bill would strip due process rights for migrants, including minors or recipients of the Deferred Action for Unaccompanied Minors program. Senator Alex Padilla, a Democrat, said that federal authorities would now be forced to prioritize 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 crimes at lower rates than those born in the U.S. Groups that advocate for restrictive immigration policies dispute or dismiss those findings.
