ICE Slams Laken Riley Act as 'Impossible to Execute'
Katie Britt's unfunded immigration bill would cost over $86 billion for three years, per DHS estimates.
WASHINGTON — ICE estimates that implementing the anti-immigrant Laken Riley Act cost over $86 billion over three years, an enormous figure in its own right — but especially staggering alongside the initial cost estimates by House Republicans of $3 billion per year when Speaker Mike Johnson put the bill on the floor last week. The estimate ballooned over the weekend after the House passed the controversial overhaul of federal and state immigration authorities with broad bipartisan support from Democrats.
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On Thursday, NPR’s Ximena Bustillo posted a memo from ICE that’s been making the rounds in Senate offices. The memo offers a dire, line-by line assessment of the agency’s capacity concerns if Laken Riley Act were to become law — which seems likely at this late stage of the Senate process. Here is the memo —
The senate was expected to vote early Thursday on additional amendments to the Laken Riley Act. Those votes have been postponed without explanation from Senate leadership. On Monday, Majority Leader John Thune approved two amendments to the bill for debate. To wit: Senate Democrats got totally steamrolled —
Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) filed an amendment to Laken Riley Act on Monday, one of over seventy that have since been filed, that would remove the new immigration authorities for state AGs. No word yet if Thune will approve Blackburn’s amendment for debate, but senators expect the new GOP majority leader to approve at least two more amendments in the process. Unclear is which amendments will be approved and how the senators will vote on the amendments approved.
Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) told us Thursday afternoon that a cloture vote on Laken Riley Act is still planned for Friday afternoon, setting the stage for a final vote on Monday, the day after Donald Trump’s inauguration and his first workday back as president in the White House.