U.S. immigration policy should serve Americans' interests. That means stopping illegal immigration and reducing legal immigration.

 Immigration policy played a major role during the first full week of the 119th Congress. The House of Representatives passed the Laken Riley Act, and the Senate jumped a procedural hurdle, allowing Senate Majority Leader John Thune to bring the Senate version of the bill to the floor for consideration.

The Laken Riley Act -- H.R. 29 in the House, introduced by Rep. Mike Collins (R-GA), and S. 5 in the Senate, introduced by Sen. Katie Britt (R-AL) -- would require the Department of Homeland Security to detain certain noncitizens who have been arrested for burglary, theft, larceny, or shoplifting. Further, it authorizes states to sue the federal government for violating or failing to enforce federal immigration law.

In the House, the bill passed 264 to 159, with 48 Democrats joining all Republicans to vote in favor of the bill. The Senate overwhelmingly approved a cloture motion to bring the bill to the floor by a vote of 84 to 9. Some Senate Democrats are hoping to amend the bill to weaken it, so its path to passage is still somewhat unclear.

Also this week, Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) reintroduced the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, H.R. 22. (See our fact sheet.) The SAVE Act would require proof of citizenship when registering to vote, preventing noncitizens from being added to the voter rolls. The bill passed the House in the previous Congress, but the Senate Leadership refused to bring it to the floor for a vote.

Republicans in the House also adopted their rules package for the 119th Congress, which includes a list of bills they intend to bring to the floor for a vote. The list includes Roy's SAVE Act, Collins' Laken Riley Act, and legislation to strengthen interior enforcement and to block certain federal grants to sanctuary jurisdictions.

Unfortunately, DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas is doing all he can during his final days in office to protect illegal aliens in the United States from being deported by the Trump Administration. Mayorkas extended Temporary Protected Status (TPS) this week for approximately 950,000 illegal aliens from El Salvador, Venezuela, Sudan, and Ukraine. Under TPS, illegal aliens are protected from deportation and can obtain a work permit.

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