Five More Anti-Immigrant Bills Moving Quickly Through Congress

The Laken Riley Act is just the beginning of a tsunami of anti-migrant proposals by the House GOP.

Pablo/Grok

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ANALYSIS — On January 3, House Republicans lead by newly elected Speaker Mike Johnson wasted no time in passing a rules package (H.Res.5) for the 119th Congress that included at the very bottom a dozen orders of business: six anti-immigrant bills to be immediately considered.

The Laken Riley Act was the first of the six, passing the House last Monday by a wide margin that included forty-eight Democrats. It sent the bill to the senate, where eighty-two lawmakers voted last night to advance the bill with amendments that Senate Minority Leader John Thune has limited to enforcement-only provisions.

As of this writing, there are no carveouts to protect minors or larger “comprehensive” options on the table for the Laken Riley Act, which could pass as early as Friday, an enormous win for Trump, who could sign a major immigration overhaul in the Oval Office on the first day of his presidency.

If that happens, the most-important thing to note about the bill is that it’s the first drop in a tsunami of restrictive migrant policies the GOP-controlled Congress is about to push during the current term, the first half of president-elect Donald Trump’s second term in the White House.

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1. H.R. 30: Introduced by Nancy Mace (R-SC), this bill amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to make individuals convicted of or who have committed sex offenses or domestic violence inadmissible and deportable. Mace was instrumental in getting Johnson elected as Speaker, literally calling Trump to help whip the final votes needed in Johnson’s favor. The move gives her a lot of leverage in the new term, as demonstrated by her immigration bill here and a transphobic bathroom legislation for the Capitol complex that she convinced Johnson to adopt in December. But pro-migrant lawmakers like Mazie Hirono (D-HI) in the Senate and Pramilia Jayapal (D-WA) in the House question the bill’s underlying intent. We’ve reached out to Mace for an interview on her bill. More to follow. Watch this space.