House-Passed Kayla Hamilton Act: Bipartisan Commonsense

The House passed the Kayla Hamilton Act on December 16, 2025 with a bipartisan vote of 225-201.

The Kayla Hamilton Act would enhance protections for American communities and migrant children by:

• Requiring information sharing between Health and Human Services and DHS;
• Prohibiting the placement of children with sponsors who are in the country illegally;
• Barring the release of minors with gang affiliations.

Crimes that should never happen

Kayla Hamilton was a 20-year-old woman from Maryland who was brutally murdered by an unaccompanied alien minor who had been released to a sponsor before any background checks were completed. The killer was a known MS-13 gang member with a criminal history in El Salvador — information that could have been obtained with a single phone call.

Hamilton’s killer is not the typical unauthorized migrant skirting laws to make American money. He is nevertheless a beneficiary of a system that gave a free pass to “non-criminals.” The more economic migrants an administration waves in outside the system created by Congress, the more truly bad actors will slip through. The tragedy of these crimes committed against Americans is that they would not have taken place if immigration laws had been credibly enforced.

The Kayla Hamilton Act moves the needle towards credibility.

The Seven Democrats Who Stepped Up

Of the 46 Democrats who voted for the Laken Riley Act earlier this year, 7 voted to increase vetting of unaccompanied minors and their sponsors:

Henry Cuellar (D-TX)
Donald Davis (D-NC)
Laura Gillen (D-NY)
Jared Golden (D-ME)
Vicente Gonzalez (D-TX)
Adam Gray (D-CA)
Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-WA)

They deserve recognition for doing the right thing. The Senate should follow their example.

The government should not participate in human smuggling

The Biden Administration’s permissive approach to unaccompanied alien children has resulted in:

• Child labor
• Lost children
• Failed background checks
• Unanswered hotline calls
• Rampant fraud

This approach endangered thousands of migrant youths and Americans like Kayla Hamilton.

The legislation that bears her name takes only modest steps toward a secure system, yet opponents argue that the government should continue to place migrant children with sponsors who are in the country illegally.

No, thank you.

The government tried its hand at the human smuggling business and it didn’t turn out well.

Parents who violate immigration law and then send for their children should not expect Uncle Sam’s assistance, except to reunite them in their home country.