Senators on Monday approved the first major immigration crackdown of the new Trump administration by passing the Laken Riley Act, which will push the federal government to detain and deport illegal migrants who commit even minor crimes such as shoplifting.
The bill cleared on a bipartisan 64-35 vote.
Named after a Georgia nursing student slain by an illegal immigrant, the legislation is intended to get migrants off the streets once they commit crimes and prevent them from engaging in escalating criminal behavior.
“If you come here illegally and you commit a crime, you shouldn’t be free to roam the streets,” said Sen. Katie Britt, Alabama Republican and chief sponsor of the bill.
The Laken Riley Act urges Homeland Security to detain anyone who commits a crime of burglary, theft or shoplifting.
Riley was killed last year by a Venezuelan illegal immigrant who was caught and released under lenient Biden border policies. He quickly amassed a criminal record, but U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement didn’t take him into custody, allowing him to be free in the community and murder Riley.
The bill also contains provisions allowing state attorneys general to sue when they believe the federal government isn’t following immigration law. That provision is a response to a Supreme Court ruling two years ago that said Texas didn’t have standing to sue to stop the Biden administration’s non-deportation policies.
Democrats who opposed the bill complained that it would unleash a flurry of lawsuits from Republican-led states.
They also said the legislation didn’t give illegal immigrants more due process rights because it would apply to illegal immigrants charged but not yet convicted of shoplifting or other theft crimes.
Sen. Michael Bennet, Colorado Democrat, also said the bill would require detaining an 11-year-old who shoplifted a soda from a gas station.
“This bill is not targeted enough,” he said.
But the Senate went the other way, expanding the bill’s reach to include more categories of migrants Homeland Security is told to detain.
The bill now includes illegal immigrants who assault law enforcement officers and those who commit crimes that kill or seriously injury a person.
That latter provision was a response to the case of Sarah Root, another prominent victim of illegal immigrant crime. Authorities say she was killed by an illegal immigrant drunk driver, Eswin Mejia, whom Homeland Security refused to detain. He jumped bail and has not been heard from since, leaving Root’s family without justice.
A version of the Laken Riley Act cleared the House on a bipartisan vote earlier this year, but the changes adopted during the Senate debate mean the House will have to vote again to make sure it passes the same version as the Senate.
That vote is expected later this week.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.