The Senate's version of the Laken Riley Act is about preventing crimes and should be approved by a bipartisan vote, but that could be difficult given the "anti-law enforcement sentiment" among Democrats, Sen. Ted Budd, R-N.C., who with Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., introduced the bill to the chamber, said on Newsmax Thursday.
"They might go back to their districts or their states, and they say, Look, we're all for law enforcement, but you've got to look at someone's actions rather than their words," Budd told "Wake Up America," pointing to other recent legislation that Democrats have opposed, such as the Police Act.
Members of the House passed their version of the Laken Riley Act, named for the Georgia nursing student who was murdered in February, allegedly by an illegal immigrant, in a bipartisan 251-170 vote.
The Senate's legislation, like the House's, requires U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to arrest illegal immigrants who have committed theft, burglary, larceny, or shoplifting and requires that those charged with such crimes to be detained until they are deported so they can't commit other crimes in the United States, Budd explained.
"We're going to lock them up," he said. "We're going to give them their due process, but we're going to detain them. We're going to require ICE to do that because this is about escalation.
"They'll go on to commit greater crimes like the tragedy we saw in February in the loss of Laken Riley … you can't let liberal prosecutors dump them back out on the street."
Meanwhile, Democrats are in the "party to defund the police," but judges should not have the discretion to return criminals to the street if they are in the United States illegally, said Budd.
Further, immigrants should be deported if they are attacking first responders, he said. But Democrats have pushed back on Police Act, which would address the issue head on, he added.
"It's the Police Act, but it's police, it's deputies, it's firefighters, it's EMTS, those that are that are showing up to make our country safe," said Budd. "We think if you attack them and you're here illegally, you're out of here."
Budd also defended Britt, who came under fire last week after her rebuttal to President Joe Biden's State of the Union address, and said she's taking the criticism well.
"She's optimistic," he said. "Republicans and Democrats are coming here on the Senate floor and supporting her and saying thanks for stepping up."
Lawmakers are also on the "wall of fame" if they're parodied on "Saturday Night Live," said Budd, adding that he thinks that Britt is "pretty proud" to have an actress such as Scarlett Johansson playing her.
"[Sen.] Ted Cruz said Tom Cruise never did him, so he's a little jealous," Budd said.
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