All but nine Senate Democrats recently joined all Senate Republicans to push a new immigration bill forward for further debate. Should it pass, experts are warning that it could cause a major blow to international diplomacy.

In a Friday essay for Slate, legal analyst Mark Joseph Stern argued that the Laken Riley Act — which the House of Representatives has already passed — goes much further than its stated goal of allowing the government to detain undocumented immigrants accused of crimes. Stern called that a "gross mischaracterization" of the bill, and asserted that the "sweeping changes" in the legislation would create "serious constitutional concerns."

"It would penalize immigrants who live and work in the U.S. legally, subjecting them to indefinite detention without being convicted or even charged with a crime. And it would transfer a massive amount of power to state attorneys general and district court judges, who could effectively wrest control over immigration enforcement from the executive branch," Stern wrote. "These judges could, upon a state’s request, ban the issuance of allvisas to residents of entire countries like India."

"Under the Laken Riley Act, courts could prevent every resident of these countries from obtaining a visa," he added. "That includes visas for skilled workers, students, medical treatment, business travel—all of it would be shut down, likely setting off diplomatic crises that the president would have little leeway to resolve."

And as Aaron Reichlin-Melnick recently told New Republic writer Greg Sargent, the Laken Riley Act would transfer significant power to far-right state attorneys general that previously belonged to the federal government. He pointed out that under the bill's language, a Republican attorney general could theoretically "block a Democratic president’s grant of parole to migrants fleeing the war in Ukraine."

“Imagine Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton bringing a lawsuit seeking to end all H1-B visas from India and China because those countries refuse to accept deportations of those nationals living in Texas,” Reichlin-Melnick said. “This could allow any state A.G. to threaten an international incident.”

Senate Majority Leader John Thune notched his first big win Friday by clearing the filibuster on the Laken Riley Act. It'll almost certainly pass Monday with ease. It's a specific, popular, bipartisan bill. But it also hands Thune a chance to prove he's serious about promises made during the GOP leadership election. Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) told Axios: "What we can feel good about is we're having a lot more conversations about what we're doing." Scott ran against Thune for leader. Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) told Axios that Thune "says what he means and means what he says when he talks about having a more open amendment process." Lee wants a more open process and backed Scott in November.

Thune spent days haggling with Minority Leader Chuck Schumer over the bill, which requires ICE to detain immigrants charged with or convicted of theft. Thune and Schumer agreed Wednesday to allow two votes on amendments. One passed, which would require ICE to detain immigrants who attack law enforcement. Senators will vote Monday on another amendment from Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) that would add to the detention list immigrants who commit crimes resulting in death or bodily injury. It's likely to pass. Because of the change, the House will have to pass the bill again before it reaches President-elect Trump's desk. Nearly a quarter of Senate Dems proved they're willing to help break a filibuster for GOP priorities.

Schumer privately told Democrats they were free to engage with the GOP on the bill, before he publicly opposed it once it was clear that substantive changes weren't happening. His defectors included new Sens. Ruben Gallego of Arizona and Elissa Slotkin of Michigan [both just elected in November 2024]. Schumer also lost Georgia's Jon Ossoff, Arizona's Mark Kelly, Michigan's Gary Peters, Nevada's Catherine Cortez Masto and Jacky Rosen, and New Hampshire's Maggie Hassan and Jeanne Shaheen.

The Senate passed the Laken Riley Act on Monday, with 12 Democrats joining all Republicans to vote for the amended immigration bill. The measure, which would mandate the detention of more undocumented immigrants charged with crimes, now goes to the House, which passed a similar but not identical bill earlier this month. The final Senate tally was 64-35. The House is expected to take up the measure later this week, likely Wednesday or Thursday. It would then land on President Donald Trump’s desk, delivering him an early if modest bipartisan win on his signature campaign issue of illegal immigration.

The Democratic senators who backed it were Catherine Cortez Masto (Nev.), John Fetterman (Pa.), Ruben Gallego (Ariz.), Maggie Hassan (N.H.), Mark Kelly (Ariz.), Jon Ossoff (Ga.), Gary Peters (Mich.), Jacky Rosen (Nev.), Jeanne Shaheen (N.H.), Elissa Slotkin (Mich.), Mark Warner (Va.) and Raphael Warnock (Ga.). The Laken Riley Act, named for a 22-year-old woman killed by an undocumented immigrant in Georgia last year, makes two major changes. Currently the Department of Homeland Security has discretion to detain only undocumented immigrants accused of serious crimes, like rape, domestic violence, murder and some drug offenses.

The bill would institute a mandatory requirement to detain those charged with smaller crimes. Because Riley’s murderer had absconded on a shoplifting charge, the initial bill included burglary, minor theft and larceny. Amendments from Sens. John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Joni Ernst expanded the list to include those charged with the assault of a law enforcement officer and causing death or serious bodily injury to another person.The measure also gives the green light to state governments to sue the federal government over certain immigration decisions and “alleged failures.” State attorney generals could file lawsuits, for instance, to have specific immigrants detained or to stop the issuance of visas to immigrants from countries that won’t accept deportees. DHS has said the bill would require billions of dollars in additional funding.