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House passes immigrant detention bill that would be Trump's first law to sign

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House passes immigrant detention bill that would be Trump's first law to sign
News

News

House passes immigrant detention bill that would be Trump's first law to sign

2025-01-23 08:05 Last Updated At:08:11

WASHINGTON (AP) — The House on Wednesday gave final approval to a bill that requires the detainment of unauthorized immigrants 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 with 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 Sen. 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 does not include any new funding.

Meanwhile, the new president has launched a slew of executive orders intended to seal off the border of Mexico to immigration and ultimately deport millions of immigrants without permanent legal status in the U.S. On Wednesday, Trump also canceled refugee resettlement and his administration has signaled intentions 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, though their toughest challenge will be finding a way to approve the funding to actually implement Trump’s hard-line plans.

“What he’s doing is kickstarting what will ultimately be our legislative agenda,” said House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La.

House Republicans initially passed the legislation last year with support from 37 Democrats in a move that was intended to deliver a political rebuke to then-President Joe Biden’s handling of the southern border. 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.

The vast majority of U.S. adults favor deporting immigrants convicted of violent crimes, according to a recent survey from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. However, only about 37% of U.S. adults are in favor of deporting immigrants in the U.S. illegally who have not been convicted of a crime.

“While the bill is not perfect, it sends a clear message that we think that criminals should be deported,” said Rep. 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 like 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 when they have already been trying to push back against presidential decisions under both the Trump and Biden administrations. Democrats unsuccessfully pushed to have that provision stripped from the bill in the Senate, saying it would inject even more uncertainty and partisanship into immigration policy.

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 currently strategizing how to push their priorities through Congress through 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.

Trump has “laid out the largest domestic logistical undertaking of our lifetimes -- that being the deportation of the vast majority of illegal aliens present in the United States," Ken Cuccinelli, who directed U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services during Trump’s first presidency, told a Senate panel recently.

Cuccinelli said it would require a surge of immigration judges, prosecutors and other staff, but Trump has also paved the way to use military troops, bases and other resources to carry out the mass deportations.

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, but 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 Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn.

Others raised concerns that the bill would strip due process rights for migrants, including minors or recipients of the Deferred Action for Unaccompanied Arrivals program. Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., said that federal authorities would now be forced to prioritize the 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 lower rates of crime than those born in the U.S. Groups that advocate for restrictive immigration policies dispute or dismiss those findings.

But Republicans pointed to the bill’s namesake, Laken Riley, and how she was killed by a Venezuelan migrant who had previously been arrested by local authorities but released as he pursued his immigration case.

“If this act had been the law of the land, he never would have had the opportunity to kill her,” said Rep. Mike Collins, R-Ga.

Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., speaks to reporters on Capitol Hill, Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., speaks to reporters on Capitol Hill, Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., center, joined from left by Rep. Jeff Hurd, R-Colo., Republican Conference Chair Lisa McClain, R-Mich., and House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., during a news conference at the Republican National Committee headquarters in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., center, joined from left by Rep. Jeff Hurd, R-Colo., Republican Conference Chair Lisa McClain, R-Mich., and House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., during a news conference at the Republican National Committee headquarters in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is meeting privately with congressional Republicans at the White House on Thursday as his allies on Capitol Hill are arguing with themselves over the size, scope and details of his “big, beautiful bill” to cut taxes, regulations and government spending.

The House and Senate GOP leaders are looking to Trump for direction on how to proceed, but so far the president has been noncommittal about the details — only pushing Congress for results.

The standoff is creating frustration for Republicans as precious time is slipping and they fail to make progress on what has been their top priority with their party in control in Washington. At the same time, congressional phone lines are being swamped with callers protesting Trump's cost-cutting efforts led by billionaire Elon Musk against federal programs, services and operations.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters the president and lawmakers were discussing “tax priorities of the Trump administration,” including Trump's promises to end federal taxation of tips, Social Security benefits and overtime pay. Renewing tax cuts Trump enacted in 2017 also was on the agenda, she said.

“The president is committed to working with Congress to get this done,” Leavitt said.

Speaker Mike Johnson, despite the slimmest of majorities, has insisted Republicans will stay unified and on track to deliver on his goal of House passage of the legislation by April.

But as Johnson's timeline slips — the House was hoping to start budget hearings this week — the Senate is making moves to take charge.

Republicans led by Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota have proposed a two-step approach, starting with a smaller bill that would include money for Trump’s U.S.-Mexico border wall and deportation plans, among other priorities. They later would pursue the more robust package of tax break extensions before a year-end deadline.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, announced late Wednesday that he was pushing ahead next week with hearings to kickstart the process.

Graham's first bill would total some $300 billion and include border money and a boost in defense spending, largely paid for with a rollback of Biden-era green energy programs. Graham, R-S.C., said that would give the Trump administration the money it needs to "finish the wall, hire ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) agents to deport criminal illegal immigrants, and create more detention beds so that we do not release more dangerous people into the country.”

“This will be the most transformational border security bill in the history of our country,” Graham said.

That's a long way from the more $3 trillion in tax cuts and more than than $2 trillion in spending reductions that hard-line conservatives are demanding.

House Republicans are deeply split over Graham’s approach. But they are also at odds over their own ideas.

House GOP leaders are proposing some $1 trillion in savings over the decade, lawmakers said, but members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus want at least double that amount.

Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, said of achieving only $100 billion a year in savings, at a time of $7 trillion in annual spending: “That’s insane.”

Roy and other members of the Freedom Caucus are interested in Graham's approach, which is seen as a down payment on Trump's immigration and deportation plans, while the party continues work on the broader tax and spending cuts package.

But Texas Rep. Jodey Arrington, the House Budget Committee chairman, said the $2.5 trillion in spending reductions was a “stretch goal.”

Johnson, R-La., needs almost complete unanimity from his ranks to pass any bill over objections from Democrats. In the Senate, Republicans have a 53-47 majority, with little room for dissent.

Trump has repeatedly said he is less wed to the process used in Congress than the outcome of achieving his policy goals.

President Donald Trump talks to Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., left and and House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., right, after he spoke to the National Prayer Breakfast, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, Feb. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

President Donald Trump talks to Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., left and and House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., right, after he spoke to the National Prayer Breakfast, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, Feb. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., speaks with reporters to discuss the Trump agenda following a closed-door strategy session, at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., speaks with reporters to discuss the Trump agenda following a closed-door strategy session, at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., speaks during the Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing for Kash Patel, President Donald Trump's choice to be director of the FBI, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., speaks during the Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing for Kash Patel, President Donald Trump's choice to be director of the FBI, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt speaks with reporters at the White House, Thursday, Feb. 6, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt speaks with reporters at the White House, Thursday, Feb. 6, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

FILE - The White House is seen, Jan. 20, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart, File)

FILE - The White House is seen, Jan. 20, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart, File)

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