Pre-inauguration immigration bill is sign of GOP’s eagerness to act
Pre-inauguration immigration bill is sign of GOP’s eagerness to act
As we get closer to the start of the new Trump administration, the president-elect’s staff and Republican members of Congress are preparing executive orders and legislation to be ready for Trump to sign on day one. And immigration is likely to be an early priority.
Some of the early moves of the incoming Trump White House will be in response to the moves of the outgoing Biden White House, according to Kathleen Bush-Joseph, a policy analyst at the Migration Policy Institute.
“So I think that we can expect the Trump administration to be rolling back a lot of what the Biden administration put in place,” she said — things like expansions of temporary protected status for certain groups.
Meanwhile, Congress is teeing up a controversial bill that would require detentions of undocumented people accused of crimes, like theft or shoplifting — even if they haven’t had a day in court yet.
“The other sections of the statute have to do with states attorneys general being able to essentially sue the federal government for releasing certain types of individuals from detention,” said Doug Ligor with the Rand Corporation’s Homeland Security Research Division.
That would be pretty unprecedented, Ligor added.
Republicans making these moves early sends a clear message, per Sara Goodman, who teaches political science at UC-Irvine.
“What we’re seeing here, even before Trump takes office, is immigration is not just a talking point,” she said. “Republican leaders are very serious about delivering for their base.”
And the election revealed that immigration is very much a top issue for the GOP base.
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