Congressional Republican leaders’ decision to make the Laken Riley Act the first piece of legislation to be taken up in both the House and the Senate in the new Congress is an appropriate reading of a national mandate, a proper response to the public’s demand to fix the border.
As a result of the surge of illegal immigration that’s taken place over the last four years as the direct result of deliberate policy decisions made by the outgoing Biden administration, dealing with illegal immigration is now a higher priority for the public – in fact, the share of U.S. adults who say they want the government to work on immigration soared by 12 points in one year, from 35 percent to 47 percent, according to an AP/NORC Center for Public Affairs Research survey released this week. That makes the issue the most important issue for government to deal with, according to the poll, eclipsing even the economy and inflation by almost 20 points each.
Further, for the first time in decades, a strong majority of the American public supports mass deportation of illegal immigrants: A CBS News poll of U.S. adults published November 26 showed that 57 percent would approve launching a new program to deport all immigrants in the U.S. illegally, and an Ipsos survey of U.S. adults for Scripps Newspapers fielded in mid-November showed that 52 percent support the mass deportation of illegal immigrants.
GOP congressional leaders recognize this shift in public opinion and are acting on it, moving the Laken Riley Act to the front of the pack. This bill, which mandates the detention of illegal immigrants charged with theft or burglary, would also establish authority for state attorneys general to sue the federal government if they can demonstrate harms caused by failure to enforce immigration laws.
The prospective law is named for the 22-year-old nursing student who was brutally assaulted and murdered by Jose Antonio Ibarra, an illegal immigrant from Venezuela who had entered the United States illegally and had been apprehended but then released multiple times before he attacked and killed her while she was out for a run in a park near her home.
The bill passed the House last year by a vote of 251-170, with bipartisan support – 37 Democrats crossed party lines to vote for it. But then-Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer never let the bill see the light of day in the Senate, and it died when the 118th Congress adjourned last week.
In the new, 119th Congress, Georgia Republican Congressman Mike Collins and Alabama Republican Senator Katie Britt reintroduced the bill.
The House went first, taking up the bill Tuesday. It passed by 264-159, with every Republican who voted supporting it, and 48 Democrats joining them, 11 more than did so in last year’s effort to pass the bill.
Now the bill moves to the Senate, where the legislation is scheduled for floor action Friday.
With that vote, Senate Democrats will face their first test of the 2026 election cycle. With only 52 Republicans in the chamber and 60 votes needed to end debate and bring the measure to the floor for a vote on final passage, Senate Democrats will decide the bill’s fate. If Minority Leader Schumer maintains his stance from last year and tries to hold his caucus together to block consideration of the bill, it would take the votes of eight Democrats to end debate and move to a vote on final passage; if, on the other hand, he were to choose instead to relent, and opt against any effort to block the bill’s passage, it would almost certainly garner the Democrat votes needed to pass.
This isn’t just a test for Senate Democrats, though. It’s also a test for new Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota. If he were to make clear to his Democrat counterparts that any decision they might make to try to block consideration of the bill by voting against a motion to end debate would be immediately followed by an order from Thune to break out the cots (because the Senate would be going into an old-fashioned filibuster, where senators actually prevent the end of debate by, well, continuing to talk), that show of determination alone could be enough to convince Schumer not to make the initial effort. Do Senate Democrats really want to start the 119th Congress reiterating to the public just how out of touch they actually are? Are “Senate Democrats to American Public: Drop Dead on Border Security” and “Schumer Blocks GOP Effort to Secure the Border” really the type of headlines Schumer thinks will advantage his party?
America has spoken. It’s time for Washington to act to secure the border. The House has done its job, and it’s now up to the Senate. Will Senate Democrats honor the will of the voters – and, simultaneously, do the smart thing politically – or will they obstruct? We’ll find out Friday.
Jenny Beth Martin is Honorary Chairman of Tea Party Patriots Action.
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