If the bill survives the amendment process, it could be an early legislative win for the Republican Congress and President Trump.
The Laken Riley Act passed the House last Tuesday with all Republican and 48 Democratic votes. The bill avoided a filibuster in the Senate on Friday by an overwhelming vote to move forward to debate, with only nine Democrats voting no.
Great, right?
Right?
Maybe.
The bill would expand the list of crimes for which illegal aliens must be detained to include theft (read: shoplifting), and it would give state attorneys general standing to sue to stop illegal releases of aliens by the federal government, of which we’ve seen so much over the past four years.
But the Senate vote to proceed to debate didn’t pass with 33 Democratic votes because all 33 have seen the light. Rather, they want to try to hang amendments on it to turn it into a Christmas tree, as they say.
Senator Schumer, who voted to proceed, tweeted that “Senate Democrats want to have a robust debate where we can offer amendments to improve this bill.”
Much as Schumer might want to make the bill a Christmas tree, it’s unlikely to spin out of control when it’s taken up this week because amendments to it would need to be germane, meaning that a “Dreamer” amnesty, for example, isn’t likely to pass muster. But, apparently, there will be a proposed amendment to require detention only if an illegal alien is convicted of an offense — not merely arrested for it (meaning that Soros prosecutors could dull the bill’s impact) — and another to strike the entire section on standing.
That expansion of standing is the main thing that makes the bill worth the effort. ICE has said that nearly 90 percent of the additional illegals whom the bill would require ICE to detain already have final orders of removal, meaning they should have been deported already. The only reason they’re still here is that the Biden administration hasn’t been willing to apply pressure to their home countries to take them back. The standing provision would force weak-kneed administrations to do their job.
It looks like Republicans are likely to stick together to vote down killer amendments (every one of them is a co-sponsor of the original bill). Senate Majority Leader John Thune said, “We are not going to entertain political showmanship in unrelated efforts [read Dreamers] to stand in the way of preventing tragedies like this from happening in the future.”
If the bill survives the amendment process, prospects for passage are good. That’s because eight Democrats have said they will vote for the bill in its current form: Senators Fetterman and Gallego signed on as co-sponsors, and Senators Kelly, Ossoff, Peters, Rosen, Shaheen, and Slotkin have said they’ll vote yes regardless of amendments. They could change their minds, of course, but this bill could be an early legislative win for the Republican Congress and President Trump.
My main concern at this point is that, with the passage of this bill, Democrats, and even some Republicans, might say they took care of immigration and there’s no need to address other issues (except for border funding), such as the need to plug asylum loopholes, rein in parole, reform or abolish Temporary Protected Status, and a million other things.