President Donald Trump is one step closer to signing the immigration-related legislation into law after the GOP-controlled U.S. Senate passed the Laken Riley Act, making it the first piece of legislation to pass the upper chamber of the new Congress.
The bill was voted on by senators 64-35. Every Republican and 12 Democrats voted in favor of the bill.
Following the emergence of immigration as a signature issue for Trump and an effective weapon against Democrats in November, Republicans prioritized the legislation, which requires the federal detention of undocumented immigrants accused of theft and burglary, among other offenses.
“This legislation will ensure that illegal aliens who steal or assault a law enforcement officer are detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement instead of being allowed out on the streets,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) said on the floor ahead of the vote. “I’m looking forward to getting this legislation to the president’s desk.”
Democrats who voted in support of the bill included Sens. John Fetterman (Pa.), Ruben Gallego (Ariz.), Maggie Hassan (N.H.), Mark Kelly (Ariz.), Jon Ossoff (Ga.), Raphael Warnock (Ga.), Gary Peters (Mich.), Jacky Rosen (Nev.), Catherine Cortez Masto (Nev.), Jeanne Shaheen (N.H.), Elissa Slotkin (Mich.) and Mark Warner (Va.).
The bill bears the name of Laken Riley, a college student who was murdered in Athens, Georgia, nearly a year ago by a Venezuelan immigrant who had been released from the United States after being arrested for shoplifting prior to the attack.
Additionally, Sen. Joni Ernst’s (R-Iowa) amendment, dubbed Sarah’s Law, was approved by a vote of 75–24 on Monday before it was finally passed. The bill is expanded by this item to cover the detention of undocumented migrants accused of crimes resulting in death or serious bodily harm.
The Ernst proposal bears Sarah Root’s name, who died in a 2016 vehicle accident involving an undocumented immigrant who then posted bail and left the United States.
A portion of the bill that gives state attorneys general the power to sue federal immigration officials over detentions would have been removed by the only Democratic amendment that was taken into consideration.
Democrats were concerned about the proposal’s cost as well as the clause that would allow Immigration and Customs Enforcement to detain migrants upon arrest rather than conviction, in addition to the expanded authority granted to state attorneys general.
The bill would be very difficult to enforce due to a lack of resources, and the Department of Homeland Security estimates that it would cost almost $27 billion to implement in the first year.
Now, before it reaches Trump’s desk, the bill must be approved by the House.
The proposal must pass the lower house again after 48 House Democrats voted in favor of it earlier this month. However, the Senate voted on a different version of the Laken Riley Act.
Senate Democrats were also divided over the bill, with two members telling The Hill that they were engaged in “intense” internal debates about how to proceed.
An early wave of support from members in battleground states was one of the issues they encountered, which seriously harmed the leadership’s negotiating position.
“I’ve spent a lot of energy trying to show how Democrats care deeply about border security,” Murphy said. “I just think we’ve got to be engaged in a collective exercise to prove to the American people that we care more about border security than they do — but do that on our terms, not their terms.”
The legislative push follows years of Republican political offensives against the Biden administration’s management of the U.S.-Mexico border and the unprecedented influx of migrants into the country.
Democrats attempted to address the issue through a bipartisan bill that Murphy and other senators were involved in, but it did not significantly impact the party’s position before November.
