From article:
Congressional Democrats are suddenly falling over themselves to endorse the Laken Riley Act, handing Republicans a major victory in their crackdown on immigration before Donald Trump even takes office. GOP lawmakers prioritized the bill this session, pitching it as an urgent revision to “ensure that America’s streets are safe from illegal immigrants who have been convicted of crimes.” It would, in this telling, mandate the detention of undocumented immigrants who commit theft, ostensibly to prevent them from moving on to worse offenses. The act—which originated as a Republican messaging bill to condemn President Joe Biden’s border policies—has already sailed through the House of Representatives with bipartisan approval and advanced to debate in the Senate on Thursday by a 84–9 vote.
This cross-party support might create the impression that this legislation really is what Republicans claim: a common-sense fix to a broken system that will keep undocumented criminals off the streets. But that is a gross mischaracterization. Rather, the Laken Riley Act would impose sweeping changes to the immigration system that raise serious constitutional concerns. It would penalize immigrants who live and work in the U.S. legally, subjecting them to indefinite detention without being convicted or even charged with a crime. And it would transfer a massive amount of power to state attorneys general and district court judges, who could effectively wrest control over immigration enforcement from the executive branch. These judges could, upon a state’s request, ban the issuance of all visas to residents of entire countries like India.
