WASHINGTON – The Republican-controlled Senate aims to pass a bill to combat illegal immigration in the coming days, hoping to send it to incoming President Donald Trump next week as his first legislative victory.
But Senate debate on the bill has dragged on this week, with two major obstacles still in the way of passing the Laken Riley Act, which would require Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to detain persons accused, arrested, or convicted of committing acts of “robbery, robbery, robbery, or robbery.”
The first hurdle is getting 60 votes in the Senate to break the filibuster and end the debate, which means winning at least seven Democratic votes, or more if they vote when there is an empty seat in Florida or Ohio. That could depend on whether Republicans allow more amendments, which leaders are being selective about as they aim for a vote for final approval on Monday.
“There are some Democrats who are trying to undermine the bill,” Senate Majority Leader John Barrasso, R-Wyo., told NBC News. “Republicans are not going to undermine or weaken this life-saving bill.”
The second hurdle is sending the amended version back to the House for another vote after the Senate voted 70-25 to adopt an amendment by Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, to add assault on a law enforcement officer to the list of crimes committed by an unauthorized immigrant that trigger mandatory detention. The GOP-led House passed the initial bill 264-159 last week, with the support of 48 Democrats.
Republicans also hope to vote on an amendment by Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, that requires ICE officials to detain undocumented immigrants who are arrested or charged with causing death or bodily harm.
The new amendments would also increase the final price tag of the bill.
In an ICE assessment to Congress last year, officials predicted that enforcing the Laken Riley Act, named after the Georgia nursing school student who was killed last year by an undocumented immigrant, would cost $3.2 million. millions. But Democratic appropriators backed off and, along with input from ICE officials, estimated a cost of $83 billion in the first three years alone, according to a document obtained from a Democratic source.
“Beyond the exorbitant costs, [the Department of Homeland Security] could not comply with the language as written. “The staffing, detention space, and transportation requirements to execute the bill are not feasible to obtain in the near future,” the document states.
Sen. Katie Britt, R-Alabama, who introduced the Senate bill, accused Democrats of “using a projection of 800,000 criminal illegal aliens who would be affected by this bill in the first year,” what they call an “old” projection based on a March 2024 Briefing with ICE officials.
“We are prepared to give ICE the resources it needs to adequately enforce federal law and protect American families, both through appropriations and reconciliation processes,” he said, referring to two possible paths to secure additional funds. .
In a move spurred by the rightward shift in immigration policy, many Democrats in competitive House districts voted in favor of the legislation and some senators in swing states, such as Sens. Rubén Gallego, D-Ariz., and John Fetterman , D-Pa., have co-sponsored it.
But while many Senate Democrats voted to begin debate on the bill, some have said they will not support its final passage unless the Senate adopts some amendments to the bill, such as Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis. . It is not clear if he will ultimately get 60 votes.
Even some supporters of the bill say it could be improved: Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., told NBC News that it should be modified to avoid targeting immigrants who are simply accused, rather than convicted, of crimes. He also called for an exclusion for “Dreamers,” or undocumented people brought to the country as children.
Democrats are pressuring Republicans to grant votes on additional amendments, but it is far from certain that they will succeed.
Pro-immigration activists have criticized the bill as a Trojan horse by conservatives to disrupt the system, eliminate due process for immigrants and empower hardline state officials, such as Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, to reshape federal enforcement of immigration laws.
“It’s hard to overstate the extent to which Democratic leadership is faltering right now,” said Leah Greenberg, co-executive director of the progressive group Indivisible. “Republicans are going to do this over and over again. They’re going to introduce something like a messaging bill, and inside it, they’re going to dismantle constitutional protections and encourage extremism. “Democrats need to stop scoring political points for Trump.”
They point to a provision in the Laken Riley Act that would allow state attorneys general to sue the federal government for allegedly failing to enforce immigration law “if the State or its residents suffer harm, including financial harm in excess of $100.”
An amendment proposed by Sen. Chris Coons, D-Delaware, to remove that language failed Wednesday when Republicans rejected it on a party-line 46-49 vote.
If Democrats don’t get any of the requested changes, they will be forced to decide whether to accept the bill anyway or block it before final passage.
“Republicans seem to have decided they are not interested in improving the bill,” said Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn.
