Trump scores his first big win on immigration as Laken Riley Act passes easily

The House of Representatives passed the Laken Riley Act 263-156, giving President Donald Trump his first major legislative powers to enact his immigration policies.

All House Republicans and 46 Democrats in the House of Representatives voted for the legislation as Democrats continue to grapple with how to change their messaging on immigration after voters largely opposed it.

The legislation is named for Laken Riley, a student at the University of Georgia who was killed last year by Jose Ibarra, who migrated to the United States illegally from Venezuela.

The legislation would require the Department of Homeland Security to detain undocumented immigrants who have been arrested for burglarly, theft, larceny or shoplifting before they are tried. The legislation would also allow for state attorneys general to bring legal action the US State Department to stop issuing visas from certain countries.

“Obviously, President Trump has been diligently working to put a vision in front of the American people, and it's one that they overwhelmingly agree with, and securing the border has been at the center of that,” Sen. Katie Britt of Alabama, the main sponsor of the legislation, told The Independent.

Despite Britt’s rhetoric about the legislation focusing on the border, the legislation does not focus on giving additional security provisions at the southern border, but rather focuses on migrants already in the United States. The bill also does not provide additional money to the Department of Homeland Security to pay for detaining migrants.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York criticized the bill for avoiding due process under the U.S. Constitution.

“This is not just about being, ‘tough on immigration,’” she told The Independent. “This is about, what are we, a place of courts and where people can have their day in court? Are we just going to be able to deport people based by on finger pointing and an accusation, or are people going to have their day in court.”

The legislation received bipartisan support, with 12 Democratic Senators voting for the bill. Almost all the of Democratic senators hailed from swing states, including Georgia’s Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff, which Donald Trump won in the 2024 presidential election.

“I am thrilled. And that’s what the American people deserve, they deserve for us to check our partisanship at the door, and where we show our common goal, try to find a pathway forward,” Britt said.

Many Democrats have feared that the influx of migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border during the Biden administration became a political liability in the 2024 presidential election.

Republicans rejected Democratic amendments to protect so-called “Dreamers,” or people brought to the United States as children by their parents.

But civil rights groups argue that the legislation would assist Trump’s promise to conduct mass deportations. Rep. Delia Ramirez of Illinois, whose husband was undocumented, said she feared Democrats were not offering a muscular defense.

“And I do worry that we're not actually establishing what the red lines are when it comes to immigrants, what are the things that are non-negotiable,” Ramirez told The Independent.

“What are we unwilling to vote yes on, because the reality is that in this moment, it feels like immigrants are the most vulnerable,” she said.

On his first day in office, Trump announced a slew of executive orders related to immigration, including declaring a national emergency at the border, reinstating a “Remain in Mexico” policy that requires immigrants to stay in Mexico as immigration authorities process their asylum claims. Trump also signed an executive order to freeze asylum claims, despite asylum being guaranteed under U.S. and international law.

Perhaps most tenuously, Trump signed an executive order attempting to end birthright citizenship, which is guaranteed in the 14th amendment of the US Constitution.