Congress is officially back in D.C. for this week and GOP lawmakers are starting the year off with a slew of immigration-focused bills to put forward.
President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to carry out deportations for more than 11 million undocumented people living in the U.S. GOP lawmakers — including Andy Biggs of Arizona — are throwing their support behind legislation that could help those plans.
Lawmakers in the U.S. House on Tuesday passed the Laken Riley Act, named after a Georgia college student who was killed last year. An undocumented immigrant from Venezuela was convicted of her murder and sentenced to life in prison in November.
If passed, the law would require the Department of Homeland Security to detain and deport immigrants who have been arrested for minor charges like burglary, theft or shoplifting. Rights groups argue if passed, the law could be used to target longtime U.S. residents like DACA recipients and those with Temporary Protected Status.
Biggs says he’s re-introduced six bills to this session — including one, known as the Stop Border Surges Act, that would prohibit states from requiring additional licensing for facilities where migrant children are housed and loosen a federal requirement to provide legal counsel to unaccompanied immigrant children. Another would require the government to resume border wall construction if passed.
Other bills would cut federal funding for so-called sanctuary cities that refuse to cooperate with federal deportation efforts.
