Congress passes immigrant detention bill in first legislative win for Trump

CNN
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The House voted on Wednesday to pass a GOP-led bill to require detention of undocumented migrants charged with certain crimes, handing an early legislative win to President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans, who chose to bring up the measure as their first bill of the new Congress.

The bill – called the Laken Riley Act – will next go to the White House to be signed into law after the Senate approved the measure earlier in the week. The House vote was 263 to 156 with 46 Democrats voting in favor.

Republicans made the legislation a top priority after winning the House, Senate and White House, but the bill would not have been able to advance to final passage in the Senate without support from key Democrats as Republicans control only a narrow majority.

Passage of the bill comes as Trump has vowed to make an immigration crackdown a centerpiece of his agenda, and it gives Republicans a legislative achievement within the first week of the president’s return to the White House. But the bill faces major obstacles to implementation as federal officials have warned lawmakers that existing resources are insufficient to execute the law.

The fact that the bill won significant support from Democrats signals a notable shift for the party in the aftermath of Trump’s presidential win as Democrats from competitive states and districts say the party must do more to address voter concerns over immigration.

The legislation exposed a rift within the party, however, as some Democrats called it a common-sense measure while others argued itthreatens to undermine civil liberties, due process and public safety.

The bill requires the Department of Homeland Security to detain undocumented migrants who are in the US unlawfully or without legal status if they have been charged with, arrested for, convicted of, or have admitted to certain criminal offenses, including theft and burglary. The Senate adopted amendments to expand the list of criminal offenses covered under the bill to include assault on law enforcement officers and crimes resulting in death or serious bodily injury.

The legislation is named after Laken Riley, a 22-year old Georgia student who was killed last year while out for a run. An undocumented migrant from Venezuela was convicted and sentenced to life without parole in the case that reignited a national debate over immigration and crime.

One controversial but under the radar provision of the legislation would give state attorneys general the authority to sue in federal court over the decisions by federal officials, including immigration judges, to release certain immigrants from detention. They could also sue to force the State Department to impose visa sanctions against countries that refuse to accept nationals that are eligible for deportation.

Democrats opposed to the legislation have argued that it would undermine public safety by allowing courts to second guess legitimate decisions made by law enforcement officers serving on the front lines and could undercut US foreign policy by giving state attorney generals and federal judges overly expansive power with respect to blocking visas.

While the bill has now been passed out of Congress, there are hurdles ahead for its implementation.

The Laken Riley Act will require a ramp-up period and a boost in funding, Immigration and Customs Enforcement privately warned lawmakers in recent weeks.

“Full implementation would be impossible for ICE to execute within existing resources,” the agency said in a memo to lawmakers this month that was obtained by CNN.

The agency said that its initial cost estimate of $3.2 billion to execute on the act “does not represent the full cost of implementation.”

ICE is funded for 41,500 detention beds. As of early December, there were more than 39,000 people in ICE custody, according to the agency.

ICE estimated it would need an additional 110,000 beds to support the population of people the new act covers, far exceeding its current inventory.

“If additional resources are provided, a ramp-up period would be needed due to implementation challenges such as hiring, detention bed availability, and contracting/ acquisition timelines,” the memo said.

Trump has moved quickly after being sworn in on Monday to take a series of sweeping immigration executive actions that included declaring a national emergency at the US southern border and kicking off the process to end birthright citizenship, a move that has already prompted legal challenge.

This story has been updated with additional developments.

CNN’s Tierney Sneed contributed to this report.