One of the first bills that could be sent to President Donald Trump after he is inaugurated Monday would vastly expand immigration detention and make it easier for states to influence immigration policy. And it has already passed one house of Congress with support from a significant number of Democrats.

The bill, the Laken Riley Act, is named after a young woman who was killed last February by an undocumented immigrant from Venezuela. Her murderer was sentenced to life in prison.

Riley has become a cause célèbre for Republicans, who argue that her death is the result of President Joe Biden’s immigration policies that allowed him to walk free despite a shoplifting charge. The GOP broadly backs the bill, but some Democrats, reeling from major losses in 2024, Americans’ frustration with the immigration status quo, and record-high border crossings under Biden, are backing or considering it as well: 48 of the House of Representatives’ 215 Democrats voted in favor. Two Democratic Senators, Ruben Gallego of Arizona and John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, co-sponsored the Senate version, though it’s not clear if it will win the five more Senate Democrats it likely needs to pass.

The bill has two major parts:

• It would mandate that the federal government detain all immigrants accused of theft and other related crimes. The man convicted of killing Riley had been charged with shoplifting prior to her death but had failed to appear in court; the bill’s supporters argue that if he had been detained on that charge, Riley would still be alive.
• It would give states a broad right to bring lawsuits against federal immigration policy.

The bill’s proponents argue it will be a major step forward for public safety. But if passed, the bill could also strain existing immigration enforcement resources, infringe on immigrants’ due process rights, and create a chaotic (and potentially unconstitutional) situation in which states are allowed to dictate federal immigration policy.

The Laken Riley Act would vastly expand immigration detention

Right now, federal law mandates that........

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