One of the act’s other provisions would give state officials unheard-of power over immigration policy. If the bill passes, a state attorney general could sue to block all visas to people from “recalcitrant countries” that don’t fully cooperate with the United States in accepting deportees, a list that includes China, India and Russia. This section of the Laken Riley Act may not matter much when Trump is in office; Republican attorneys general probably won’t want to challenge the president, and Democrats are unlikely to demand harsher immigration crackdowns. But if we ever have another Democratic president, it’s easy to picture the most conservative state prosecutors suing to block the issuance of visas to, say, people from China. Immigration policy would be subject to a chaotic fight in the federal courts.
Though the measure passed the House overwhelmingly last week, Democrats could still block it in the Senate, where it needs 60 votes to overcome a filibuster. Alas, that seems unlikely to happen. Last week, only nine Senate Democrats voted against proceeding to debate the bill on the Senate floor. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania and Ruben Gallego of Arizona are co-sponsors of it, and several other swing-state Democrats have already announced plans to vote for it. Fetterman told reporters last week that fellow Democrats had experienced a “blinding flash of common sense.”
Michelle Goldberg of the New York Times isn't happy...
