Trump has been on a run of big wins — his own agenda push could end the streak
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Despite some early wins, Trump still faces an uphill battle with his more significant policy proposals, Eric Garcia writes. The table is all but set for President-elect Donald Trump’s return to the White House. On Friday, New York Justice Juan Merchan ruled that “the only lawful sentence” for Trump after his criminal conviction was an unconditional discharge, allowing him to avoid prison time.
![[Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA), Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-NY) and U.S. Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY) speak ahead of the state funeral for former U.S. President Jimmy Carter at Washington National Cathedral on January 09, 2025 in Washington, DC]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/09/15/GettyImages-2193123237.jpg)
Trump and his party scored another win on Thursday, when Senate Democrats helped pave the way for debate to begin on the Laken Riley Act, legislation that would allow for immigration authorities to detain undocumented immigrants charged with theft. Not long ago, Democrats excoriated Trump for his anti-immigrant rhetoric as racist and xenophobic, and the Laken Riley legislation stalled out in the Senate last year when that party still had control. Many civil liberties and left-wing organizations have excoriated Democrats for moving forward a bill that they say will violate civil liberties and help allow for Trump’s mass deportation operation.
But Democrats feel that they largely lost the argument on immigration this past election, especially when heavily Latino counties that have been overwhelmed by the influx of migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border voted Republican. In Arizona, Ruben Gallego, who is Latino and a former member of the House’s Congressional Progressive Caucus, used to excoriate Republican anti-immigrant rhetoric. Now, as Arizona’s junior senator, he co-sponsored the Laken Riley Act, telling The Independent that, “We're here to see if we could come to a common agreement when it comes to the border, border policies and border security in general.”.
