House Passes Laken Riley Act

NEW: John Fetterman says if Democrats can’t get 7 votes in the Senate to pass the Laken Riley Act, then “that’s the reason why we lost."

“If you're here illegally and you're committing crimes, I don't know why anybody thinks that it's controversial, that they all need to go." pic.twitter.com/e0tDEK72uO

— Western Lensman (@WesternLensman) January 8, 2025

Not only am I voting yes on the Laken Riley Act, I’m cosponsoring the bill.

Arizonans know better than most the real consequences of today’s border crisis. We must give law enforcement the means to take action to prevent tragedies like what occurred to Laken Riley.

— Ruben Gallego (@SenRubenGallego) January 8, 2025

Good.

CNN:

“Washington CNN — The House voted on Tuesday to pass a GOP-led bill to require detention of undocumented migrants charged with certain crimes, but the measure faces an uncertain future in the Senate in a sign of the challenges facing Republicans despite controlling both chambers of Congress.

The decision by House Republicans to bring up the legislation, known as the Laken Riley Act, as the first bill of the new Congress highlights the central priority of the issue for the party. But the narrow margins in both chambers limit what Republicans can achieve, and it’s not clear if the bill will have the votes needed in the Senate, which is on track to take up the measure on Friday.

The House vote was 264 to 159, with 48 Democrats voting with Republicans in support. When the legislation passed the chamber in the last session Congress, 37 Democrats voted with Republicans. …”

I remember covering the Biden administration in early 2021.

Biden started to systematically dismantle immigration enforcement on his first day in office. The Democrat-controlled House passed multiple amnesties for DREAMERS and farm workers. By April of 2021, the flood of illegal aliens across the border had reached a 20 year high. If it had not been for the Senate filibuster, which Manchin and Sinema fell on their swords to preserve (both have since left Congress), it would have been a civilization wrecking catastrophe.

The politics of immigration have since shifted to the point that Fetterman and Gallego are sponsoring this bill in the Senate. Vulnerable swing state Democrats saw what happened to Bob Casey and got the message. We still need five more Democrat votes to stop a filibuster.

Anyway, this is a good start for the 119th Congress, and a big shift from the 117th.