As the 118th Congress nears its end, lawmakers face a packed agenda, including disaster relief and securing funding to prevent a government shutdown. A top priority for House Republicans is addressing the U.S.-Mexico border crisis.
House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) highlighted the tragic case of 22-year-old Laken Riley, who was allegedly killed by an undocumented immigrant. Republicans point to her death as evidence of what they view as a border crisis under President Biden’s administration.
“Eighteen minutes,” Emmer said. “That’s how long Laken Riley fought for her life before being killed due to Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, and the Democrats’ open-border policy.”
Former President Donald Trump has also used Riley’s case in his speeches to emphasize his border enforcement plans. On March 9, Trump claimed, “Laken Riley would be alive today if Joe Biden had not willfully and maliciously neglected the border.”
Trump’s immigration proposals include the largest deportation plan in U.S. history. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has voiced his strong support for Trump’s approach, stating, “I believe President Trump could be the most consequential president of the modern era because we have to fix everything.”
Democrats, however, have raised concerns about the proposed solutions. Representative Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.) argued, “I don’t think the American public signed up for military dollars being spent on a private force to run around cities, break up families, or pull people from their homes.”
With over 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the U.S., the American Immigration Council estimates that mass deportation could cost nearly $960 billion over the next decade.
As the 119th Congress approaches, immigration policy remains a deeply divisive issue in Washington.
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