When President Donald Trump takes the oath of office on Monday, Republicans in Congress may be well on their way to delivering his promise to secure America’s open southern border, deport millions of illegal immigrants as required by U.S. law, and protect Americans from violent, criminal aliens.

The Senate could vote as early as Monday on the Laken Riley Act (H.R. 29/S. 5), which requires federal officials to detain and deport illegal immigrants arrested for certain other criminal offenses and lets local authorities sue the federal government for damages inflicted when it fails to enforce immigration law. The bill bears the name of Laken Riley, a 22-year-old University of Georgia student murdered last February 22 by Jose Antonio Ibarra, an illegal alien and member of the Venezuelan transnational criminal organization Tren de Aragua who had previously been arrested for child endangerment and shoplifting. President Trump has said her case illustrates the many ways illegal immigrants, who should never have entered the United States, assault and murder American citizens.

The legislation is necessary, because “there are so many bureaucratic hurdles currently, both from this administration and from previous administrations to getting dangerous people out of the country,” Rep. Brad Knott (R-N.C.) told “Washington Watch” Thursday. “There needs to be enhanced penalties. There needs to be enhanced deportation efficiency. And allocating the resources necessary to do that is a very high priority for this Congress.”

The Laken Riley Act — the first bill to be considered in the 119th Congress — passed the House of Representatives on January 7 by a vote of 264-159, with 48 Democrats voting in favor. On Thursday, the House passed the Preventing Violence Against Women by Illegal Aliens Act (H.R. 30) by a vote of 274-145, with 61 Democrats crossing the aisle to support the bill. That bill, introduced by Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.), forbids immigration officials from admitting “non-U.S. nationals (aliens under federal law)” who are guilty of stalking, abusing or neglecting children, sex crimes, or violating a protective order. It also allows the government to deport criminal aliens who are sex offenders, stalkers, or abusers.

“The time is now to take seriously the danger of criminal aliens in the United States. Anything that makes it easier for adjudicators and officials to ensure a criminal alien’s arrest and removal should receive overwhelming bipartisan support,” said Rep. Laurel Lee (R-Texas) on the floor during the debate.

The votes were among the first for Knott, a freshman lawmaker and former prosecutor who said the “overwhelming” impact of the Democrats’ open-borders policies “was the motivation for me to run for office.”

“With the exception of President Trump, there has been an open border for my entire lifetime. And it’s time to secure that and to fix it so that my children don't have to grow up with the same problems,” said Knott. “If we don’t stem the tide soon, we are going to have irreparable harm.”

The Laken Riley Act overcame a potential Democratic filibuster, passing a cloture vote by 61-35 with a handful of Democrats siding with Republicans. Senate Democrats who backed the bill included Ruben Gallego (Ariz.) Maggie Hassan (N.H.), Mark Kelly (Ariz.), Catherine Cortez Masto (Nev.), Jon Ossoff (Ga.), Gary Peters (Mich.), Jacky Rosen (Nev.), Jeanne Shaheen (N.H.), Elissa Slotkin (Mich.), and Mark Warner (Va.). Shaheen, Ossoff, Peters, and Warner face re-election in the coming midterms. Senator John Fetterman (D-Pa.) did not vote but co-sponsored the legislation. Gallego, who earned a radical record on the border in the House of Representatives, co-sponsored the bill.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) called the bill “a small but critical step to resolving the Biden border crisis,” a border security measure Thune promised will be “the first of many.” But nine of the Senate’s most liberal members voted against even debating the Laken Riley Act, including Senator Bernie Sanders (an Independent who caucuses with the Democrats,) as well as Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), and Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii).

Similarly, in the House, Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) asserted without evidence that the Preventing Violence Against Women by Illegal Aliens Act “would make it easier to label survivors of domestic violence as perpetrators.”

“Unfortunately, it seems that even a simple and straightforward bill to detain criminal illegal immigrants is too much for some on the Left,” said Thune, who also scheduled a vote on the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act this month before the annual March for Life.

Congressional liberals’ opposition to bills aimed at safeguarding Americans from predators and child abusers exposes “the sheer radicalization of the Democratic Party,” said Laura Ingraham on her Fox News program Thursday. “It is illegal aliens before the American people every time, even those committing sexual assault.”

The Senate added one amendment to the bill, by Senator John Cornyn (R-Texas), which expanded the list of crimes to include “burglary, theft, larceny, shoplifting, or assault of a law enforcement officer offense, or any crime that results in death or serious bodily injury to another person.” Senators narrowly rejected an amendment by Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.) striking the right of state attorneys general to sue the federal government over the detention of illegal immigrants.

The limited amendments thwarted the plans of Democrats to turn the popular immigration enforcement bill into a “Christmas tree” which the Left will use “as a vehicle for a Dreamer amnesty.” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) had said he would only work with Republicans if they agree to bills he deems “smart, effective, tough and commonsense legislation to secure our borders and reform our immigration system” — phrases Democrats typically apply to amnesty bills.

“Lo and behold, [Senator Dick] Durbin [D-Ill.] has filed the amnesty amendments," noted Krikorian. Durbin and Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) filed two amendments that would exempt illegal immigrants covered by the never-passed DREAM Act and recipients of DACA amnesty from the Laken Riley Act. The second would confer amnesty and eventual U.S. citizenship to the millions of beneficiaries of the DREAM Act, Temporary Protected Status (TPS), and Deferred Enforced Departure (DED). In the end, neither amendment came to the floor.

Deporting illegal immigrants will not only save American lives but ease the economic burden imposed by illegal immigrants, said Knott. “We have a wave of illegal immigrants who are soaking up tax dollars in the form of free medical care, and by some estimates, up to 10% of the babies born in this country have illegal immigrant parents. They come here and they get free health care in the emergency rooms. Those are the types of costs that no one, no one discusses,” said Knott. “If we can appropriate dollars to enforce the law, we'll have a solid return on investment.”

The Laken Riley Act has already passed the House, and the Senate could vote on it as early as Monday. It would then return to the House for passage and go to President Trump’s desk for his signature. It could be among the first laws enacted by the second Trump administration.

Yet immigration experts say there is more to be done. “My main concern at this point is that, with the passage of this bill, Democrats, and even some Republicans, might say they took care of immigration and there’s no need to address other issues (except for border funding), such as the need to plug asylum loopholes, rein in parole, reform or abolish Temporary Protected Status, and a million other things,” wrote Krikorian at National Review.

Knott says Congress is fully cognizant of the enormity of border security. “We’ve welcomed in a lot of people who are who are sewing pretty treacherous seeds … all over the country” and impacting America “in a very, very detrimental way,” said Knott. “We're going to be dealing with that for a long, long time.”