The United States Congress approved a law against illegal immigration that could be the first that Donald Trump enacts
The United States House of Representatives gave final approval this Wednesday to a bill law requiring the detention of unauthorized immigrants accused of theft and violent crimesmarking the first legislation President Donald Trump may sign as Congress, with some bipartisan support, moved quickly in line with his plans to crack down on illegal immigration.
The approval of Laken Riley Law named after a Georgia nursing student murdered last year by a Venezuelan, shows the extent to which the political debate on immigration has shifted to the right after Trump’s electoral victory. Immigration policy has often been one of the most entrenched issues in the US Congress, but a crucial faction of Democrats joined with Republicans to push the strict proposal through to passage in a 263-156 vote count.
“For decades, it has been nearly impossible for our government to agree on solutions to problems at our border and within our country,” said Sen. Katie Britt, R-Alabama. Britt He called the law “perhaps the most important immigration law” passed by Congress in almost three decades.
However, the bill would require a massive increase in the capabilities of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, but does not include any new funding.
Trump has made combating illegal immigration his top priority, and Congress, with a Republican majority and some Democrats willing to collaborate, is showing that it is ready to follow the same path.
“We do not want criminals to enter our country”Trump told his supporters at the Capitol.
The US president is already ending many of former President Joe Biden’s border and immigration programs, moving the country away from the Democrat’s attempts to implement more humane immigration policies at a time when record numbers of people were arriving at the border with Mexico.
“If you enter this country illegally and commit a crime, you should not be free to roam the streets of this nation,” said Britt, who helped push the bill through the Senate.
The legislation would require federal authorities detain migrants accused of crimes such as theft, as well as offenses that injure or kill someoneand would give states new legal status to challenge federal immigration decisions, including those of immigration judges.
Critics of the bill say that provision will open the door for attorneys general in red states to wage a legal battle against federal immigration decisions, injecting even more uncertainty and partisanship into immigration policy.
Deporting millions of migrants or enforcing the Laken Riley Act will largely depend on Congress’s ability to allocate $100 billion. Republicans are debating how to approve that money through a process known as budget reconciliation that will allow them to pass it through Congress purely on party-line votes.
The Laken Riley Act is currently unfunded, but Democrats on the Appropriations Committee They estimate that the bill would cost $83 billion over the next three years, according to a memo obtained by the news agency AP. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has estimated that it would need almost triple the number of detention beds and carry out more than 80 deportation flights per week to comply with the law, according to the memo.
“That’s a lot of money to spend on a law that will cause chaospunish legal immigrants and undermine due process in the United States, all while diverting resources from real threats,” said Sen. Patty Murray, the top Democrat on the Appropriations Committee, in a speech on the Senate floor last week. pass.
(With information from AP)
