The Democrats are enthusiastic about the bill to include Laken Riley in the Senate

The New York Times

The Senate is expected this week to take up the Laken Riley bill, a measure that Republicans have championed as one of their first actions to address what they have deemed as necessary changes to immigration laws.
🏛️ Follow Politics This time around, Democratic senators said they are willing to take a look at the measure.
The Senate is scheduled to resume consideration on the measure Monday at 5:30 p.m. Story continues below advertisement Concerns remain about the legality and price tag of the bill.
Advertisement Additionally, the measure would also allow individual states to sue the federal government if a state believes federal immigration laws are being improperly implemented.
“Senate Democrats want to weaken the Laken Riley Act to allow some criminal illegal aliens to remain free from detention to prey on Americans,” Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas) wrote on X.

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The Laken Riley bill, which Republicans have pushed as one of their first steps to address what they have considered necessary changes to immigration laws, is scheduled to be taken up by the Senate this week.

If the bill is approved, it would mandate that federal authorities hold undocumented immigrants who are charged with, accused of, or arrested for theft and related offenses. Last week, the House passed the bill with a resounding majority, giving it renewed bipartisan support.

Even though some immigrant rights organizations warned that if the bill were to pass, it would violate people’s right to due process and result in significant expenses for the federal government, all but nine Senate Democrats joined all Republicans in pushing the bill to debate on Thursday.

Nonetheless, the bill’s passage in the upper house indicates that Democrats are open to implementing more conservative immigration laws following the 2024 election, when the party suffered a general defeat due to the border security issue.

The change is apparent. When Democrats controlled the upper house in the previous Congress, Charles E. Following its passage in the House with the backing of 37 Democrats, the proposal, which was named after a Georgia nursing student who was killed by an undocumented immigrant in 2024, was not brought to the floor by New York Senator Schumer.

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This time, senators who are Democrats stated that they would be open to considering the proposal. However, many stated that they would not vote for the legislation in its current form and that they were looking to amend it. The Senate will take up the measure again on Monday at 5:30 p.m. M.

The bill’s legality and cost are still up for debate. The bill would, as written, permit federal authorities to hold an undocumented immigrant who is only accused of stealing without any further proof or trial.

Furthermore, if a state feels that federal immigration laws are being applied incorrectly, the measure would permit them to file a lawsuit against the federal government. A vote against the bill was advocated by groups like the American Immigration Lawyers Association, which claimed that it would only “create chaos in enforcement and impede local criminal law enforcement.”. “”.

María Teresa Kumar, president of Voto Latino, said in a statement, “We acknowledge that the immigration system is flawed and we are receptive to thoughtful modernizations that prioritize fairness.”. But longstanding families who have built lives and contributed to this nation would suffer irreversible harm as a result of this bill’s harsh provisions. “.”.

The federal government may incur unanticipated expenses as a result, watchdogs have cautioned. The Biden administration estimated last year that hiring more ICE officers would cost $15 million and purchasing an extra 60,000 to 70,000 beds to house the detained immigrants would cost roughly $32 billion. However, other estimates have put the cost as high as $10 billion.

With the support of 48 Democrats and all Republicans, the House approved a version of the measure earlier this month in its first policy vote of the 119th Congress.

Schumer stated in remarks prior to the vote on Thursday that Democrats agree that Congress must act immediately to address the country’s immigration system and that his party intends to propose amendments to “improve” the bill. As they came under increasing fire from immigrant rights organizations and even some of their own colleagues, other Democratic senators echoed that sentiment.

Sen. Raphael G. “I look forward to continuing to discuss this bill with my colleagues, and I welcome a serious bipartisan conversation about what we need to do to fix our broken immigration system to keep Georgians safe and prevent another senseless tragedy,” stated Warnock, a Democrat from Riley’s home state of Georgia. “”.

However, Republicans are rejecting the amendments proposed by their Senate colleagues.

“The goal of Senate Democrats is to weaken the Laken Riley Act so that certain criminal illegal aliens can continue to prey on Americans without being detained,” Sen. On X, Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas) posted. We will not allow Democrats to engage in this activity. “”.

Sen. Because current laws permit the detention and deportation of undocumented immigrants who commit violent crimes, and because the measure does nothing to improve immigration policy, California Democrat Alex Padilla stated that he opposes the measure as written.

“It allows people to be arrested and deported just for being charged, without a conviction,” Padilla stated in an interview with “Meet the Press” on Sunday. This includes Dreamers and other minors who have stolen a pack of bubble gum from a store. This kind of legislation needs to receive more attention. “.”.

However, Ilya Somin, a professor of law at George Mason University, cautioned that it appears “unlikely that Democrats are going to get some kind of big political payoff from supporting this bill.” He acknowledged that Democrats may feel politically compelled to be more receptive to conservative immigration policies. “”.

Given that the vast majority of voters are likely unaware of the Laken Riley Act and that many of those who are aware of it may forget by the time of the next election, he stated that politicians could likely get away with not supporting it.

He issued a warning, saying that the bill’s effects would be felt immediately by undocumented immigrants and the federal agencies responsible for their enforcement.

Although the exact cost of this bill is unknown, Somin stated that it could likely be in the tens of billions of dollars. “Money spent locking up people arrested or charged with minor theft crimes is money that cannot be spent on other law enforcement priorities,” Somin said.

Sen. introduced the legislation. Senators who are Democrats also co-sponsor Katie Boyd Britt (R-Alabama). Pennsylvanian John Fetterman and Arizonan Ruben Gallego. After Thursday’s vote, Fetterman told reporters that although he “never suggested that it necessarily is a perfect bill,” the bill is “necessary.”. “.”.

“It was a blinding flash of common sense,” Fetterman added when asked why other Democrats decided to consider the bill this time. “.”.

Democrats have admitted that their stances on immigration have hurt them on the ballot since the election in November. Members of their party who ran on a platform of stricter immigration laws and border restrictions, like Rep. In 2024, Democrat Tom Suozzi used such rhetoric to win a swing seat in New York.

Rep. According to Veronica Escobar (D-Texas), the measure’s strong Democratic support was a direct response to the November election results and changing political tides. The law would require Immigration and Customs Enforcement to hold undocumented immigrants accused of burglary and theft-related offenses, including shoplifting, and she criticized some colleagues for not fully comprehending its implications.

At a panel discussion on immigration in Washington on Thursday, organized by Fwd . us, a nonprofit immigration advocacy group that was started by Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Escobar stated, “This shows how the world has changed, and we can expect more of the same.”.

Nonetheless, Escobar contended that surveys indicate the public supports both bolstering legal immigration programs and strengthening border security.

“The answer, in my opinion, is that we shouldn’t be accepting everything the MAGA party is proposing as a solution because most of the time that just makes a broken system worse and a byzantine system more complicated,” Escobar stated.

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