WASHINGTON – U.S. Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., stood behind President Donald Trump Wednesday as he signed the first piece of legislation of his second term, her Laken Riley Act.
Britt and Rep. Dale Strong, R-Huntsville, were some of the lawmakers in the East Room of the White House for the immigration bill signing. Britt sponsored the legislation in the Senate and helped get 12 Democrats to join all Senate Republicans to vote for the bill.
The legislation will require undocumented immigrants who commit crimes such as theft or shoplifting to be detained. It was amended to add two criminal offenses that will require detention of undocumented immigrants: Assault of a law enforcement officer and a crime that results in bodily injury or death to another person.
The bill will also allow states to sue the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for violating immigration law.
The act is named after Laken Riley, a Georgia nursing student who was killed while on a jog by a Venezuelan man last year. Her parents were a part of the event and spoke before the bill signing, thanking Trump for his efforts to crackdown on illegal immigration.
All of Alabama’s House delegation voted for the bill last week. Rep. Mike Collins, R-GA, sponsored the bill in the House.
“It’s just a great moment obviously for Laken’s family, her legacy and truly our country and it’s just more of promises made, promises kept that we’ve seen from President Trump,” Britt told Alabama Daily News.
“Its a real honor to have carried the very first piece of legislation that he’ll sign in the 119th Congress in his second term,” Britt told ADN.
Trump and Riley’s mother, Allyson Phillips, thanked Britt for sponsoring the bill. Trump called it a “landmark law” that will save lives.
“This is something that brought both Democrats and Republicans together,” Trump said. “That’s not easy to do. Laken did it.”
Supporters say the legislation shows the Trump administration and GOP’s commitment to tackling illegal immigration as one of their first initiatives this year.
Opponents of the Laken Riley Act argue it will lead to an increase in racial profiling and will pose a threat to due process.
“This is an extreme and reactive bill that will authorize the largest expansion of mandatory detention we have seen in decades, sweeping in children, DREAMers, parents of U.S. citizen children, and other longtime members of their communities who even ICE thinks should not be detained,” Sarah Mehta, senior border policy counsel with the ACLU, said in a statement earlier this month.
Alabama lawmakers are already working to introduce other pieces of legislation focused on immigration, including Britt’s WALL Act which would appropriate $25 billion to finish a wall at the U.S. southern border.
Strong introduced the Deport Illegal Voters Act, which would classify unlawful voting as an aggravated felony to expedite the deportation of undocumented immigrants.