Earlier this month, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Laken Riley Act which “requires the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to detain certain non-U.S. nationals (aliens under federal law) who have been arrested for burglary, theft, larceny, or shoplifting.” The bill also authorizes states to “sue the federal government for decisions or alleged failures related to immigration enforcement.”
As the bill heads to the Senate, U.S. Senator John Kennedy (R-LA) spoke at a press conference and described the bill as “one more attempt by the Republicans to try to stem the chaos at the border.”
Kennedy added, “Make no mistake, the border is chaotic by design” and blamed President Biden and the Democratic Party, which according to Kennedy, “clearly believes in no distinction between legal and illegal immigration.”
[Note: There are distinctive laws and policies regarding legal and illegal immigration. “The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 (INA) collected many existing provisions and reorganized the structure of immigration law. Since then, Congress has amended the INA many times based on new public laws.” Title V of the existing INA is called: Alien Terrorist Removal Procedures.]
You voted against a $20 billion border security bill that would have funded:
– 1,500 new border agents.
– 4,300 asylum officers.
– New cutting edge tech to detect and stop the flow of fentanyl.
The only one designing chaos here is you and your party. https://t.co/xW56AA6A9H
— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) March 27, 2024
Kennedy is being trolled by his Democratic Senate colleague Chris Murphy (CT) and Democratic California Governor Gavin Newsom, who are pointing out that Kennedy “voted against a $20 billion border security bill that would have funded: – 1,500 new border agents. – 4,300 asylum officers. – New cutting edge tech to detect and stop the flow of fentanyl.” Newsom asserted: “The only one designing chaos here is you and your party.”
Republicans have been accused of wanting a chaotic border as a campaign cudgel for presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump to hit incumbent Joe Biden with as the election approaches. One of the chief Senate negotiators of the bipartisan security bill, the Republican James Lankford of Oklahoma, lamented Republicans’ professed desire to fix the border was performative, saying that when the opportunity arose to make meaningful changes, Republicans said: “Just kidding, I actually don’t want to change the law because it’s a presidential election year.”
[RELATED: GOP Senator Slams Anti-Biden Collusion: “We Have an Oath to the Constitution”]
This backfired spectacularly.
FOX: Why give Biden this (win) in an election year?
Lankford then breaks down how the bill *would* solve a lot of the issues, and reminds the host that they all took an oath to the constitution, even in election years.
— Angry Staffer (@Angry_Staffer) January 28, 2024
House Republicans passed their own border measure last year — H.R.2 – Secure the Border Act of 2023 which was not designed to pass the Senate. It is the yardstick that intransigent Republicans in the House hold up when accused of insincerity on border fixes, saying that anything less that H.R.2 is a compromise they are not willing to make.
[Note: Connecticut’s official website features a document titled ‘5 Myths About Undocumented Immigrants.’ The first reads: “Myth #1: Anyone who enters the country illegally is a criminal… Under federal immigration law, unlawful presence in this country is a civil offense. The civil penalty for being in this country unlawfully is deportation, or removal, which the U.S. Supreme Court has held is not ‘criminal punishment.’ However, some states—like Arizona—are trying to criminalize an undocumented immigrant’s mere presence.”]