As the Republican-led Congress prepares to carry out his agenda, President Donald Trump signed an immigration detention bill into law on Wednesday, his first legislative victory since taking office.
In a vote of 263-156 on Wednesday, the House finally approved the plan, with 46 Democrats voting with the Republicans. Twelve Democrats broke with their party to support the proposal, which also cleared the Senate on Monday by a vote of 64 to 35.
Trump thanked the Republican and Democratic members who got the measure to his desk and began his speech with a victory lap, claiming that his immigration program was the reason he won the election.
Republicans and Democrats have come together because of this. “That’s not easy to do,” Trump stated during talks in the White House’s East Wing. It was Laken. America will always remember Laken. Riley, I hope.
The president thanked Riley’s sister and parents for coming to the bill signing and hailed her as a beacon of generosity and goodwill.
The Laken Riley Act, named for the nursing school student who was slain in Athens, Georgia, last year, was drafted by Rep. Mike Collins, R-Ga. After being found guilty of her murder, a Venezuelan national who had entered the country illegally was given a life sentence without the chance of release.
According to Trump, Riley’s killer was freed after being accused in New York and again after stealing in Georgia.
The president praised the measure as a flawless, amazing homage to an extraordinary young woman and claimed it will save countless lives.
According to the statute, undocumented immigrants who are arrested, charged, or convicted of burglary, theft, larceny, or shoplifting must be detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Trump frequently invoked 26-year-old Jose Ibarra, the migrant found guilty in the case, throughout the campaign trail last year to criticize the border policies of the Biden administration.
Voters in the election made immigration a top priority, and several vulnerable Democrats in battleground regions and districts who supported the law have been at odds with their party over it.
Trump has taken other steps to fulfill his pledge to crack down on illegal crossings in his first week in office, including announcing a national emergency at the border that would allow the Defense Department to send the National Guard and soldiers there. In order to stop immigration at the southern border and deport millions of people who entered the country illegally, he has also signed a number of executive measures.
“All illegal entry will immediately be halted, and we will begin the process of returning millions and millions of criminal aliens back to the places from which they came,” Trump stated during his inaugural address.
Trump also banned a refugee resettlement program on Wednesday, and his administration instructed the Justice Department to look into any state or local officials who are not enforcing immigration rules in order to potentially prosecute them.
Additionally, Lindsey Graham, a Republican from South Carolina, chair of the Senate Budget Committee, stated last week that Republicans want to give Trump $100 billion to finance his proposed crackdown on illegal immigration. Without Democratic backing, Republicans are looking into using the budget reconciliation procedure to support Trump’s border security budget.