The Republican-majority US Senate is preparing this week to approve, with the support of some Democrats, what would be Donald Trump’s first immigration bill in his second term and which, according to his critics, paves the way for indiscriminate detentions of undocumented immigrants.
The law named after Laken Riley, a university student murdered on a Georgia campus in February 2024 by Venezuelan José Ibarra, sentenced to life in prison, would require immigration authorities to detain undocumented immigrants accused, suspected or detained in cases of robbery and related crimes, without having been proven guilty.
In addition, the project guarantees states the possibility of suing the federal government for a “very wide range” of immigration-related measures, which would hinder the Executive’s ability to define policies on this issue, regardless of which party is in power, according to the National Immigration Law Center (NILC).
The Senate is expected to begin debating the bill this afternoon, which was approved by the House of Representatives last week with the support of all Republicans and 48 Democrats.
The initiative has a promising future in the Senate with 84 senators, including 31 Democrats, who voted last week to advance the plan for debate.
The newly elected senator for Arizona, Rubén Gallego, who is of Mexican and Colombian origin, is one of the Democrats who has shown strong support for the legislation.
“We must give law enforcement the means to take action when illegal immigrants break the law, to prevent situations like the one that happened to Laken Riley,” he said in a statement.
Gallego joined in the outrage caused by the young woman’s death, which fueled Trump, who takes office next Monday, to make the fight against undocumented immigration his greatest political weapon to win the elections and obtain a majority in Congress.
Senator John Fetterman (D-Pa.) supports the bill, which he called “necessary.”
For Miguel Tinker Salas, a political analyst and professor of Latin American Studies at Pomona College, it is not surprising that Democrats have tightened their immigration policies.
“This is a victory for the Republicans who managed to drag the Democrats along with their rhetoric of criminalizing immigrants and strengthening their ideas of white privilege, and the loss of American culture, security and employment,” said the professor.
Pablo Alvarado, co-director of the National Day Laborer Network (NDLON), agrees with Salas that Democrats “are giving in left and right” before Trump’s inauguration.
The activist hopes that the Senate will approve the bill in the coming days so that President Joe Biden can veto it before leaving the White House. However, he is aware that Republicans will surely delay its approval to present as a victory the first law that Trump would sign after assuming power.
Immigrant advocates have rallied against the bill, warning of the power it will give officials like Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Republican, to pursue undocumented immigrants, regardless of whether they are actually criminals.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) says the law will allow racial discrimination when punishing non-violent crimes, and will create legal chaos.
The New York Immigration Coalition stressed that the law eliminates due process for these people and would allow the deportation of undocumented immigrants “accused of non-violent crimes” who have not been found guilty, including shoplifting.
The organizations have placed their trust in Democrats like Senator Alex Padilla, of California, to stop the law, which needs 60 votes to be approved.
Padilla said in an interview with NBC that he opposes the measure as written, saying it does nothing to improve immigration policy and that existing laws already allow for the detention and deportation of immigrants who commit violent crimes.
Source: oem
