The US Senate advanced a bill calling for the detainment of undocumented immigrants charged with theft-related crimes on Thursday, as Donald Trump and fellow Republicans press their hardline immigration agenda after their victories in the November elections.
The overwhelmingly bipartisan vote was 84 to nine, as dozens of Democratic senators joined Republicans in supporting the motion to begin debate on the bill. But some Democrats who voted to advance the legislation indicated that they wanted to see amendments to the proposal, raising questions about how many of them would support its final passage.
The Laken Riley Act, named after a 22-year-old University of Georgia nursing student who was murdered by an undocumented immigrant last year, passed the House on Tuesday in a vote of 264 to 159. The bill secured notable bipartisan support, as 48 House Democrats joined 216 of their Republican colleagues in backing the legislation.
The House and Senate votes underscored how Democrats are feeling pressure to take potentially severe steps on immigration after Trump’s victory, and that dynamic could ease the bill’s path through the upper chamber.
At least eight Democratic senators needed to join forces with their Republican colleagues to take up the bill, as 60 votes were required to overcome the filibuster, and the chamber easily cleared that hurdle on Thursday. Chuck Schumer, the Senate Democratic leader, had indicated before the vote that he would back the motion to proceed with the legislation.
“If we get on the bill, Democrats want to have a robust debate where we can offer amendments and improve the bill,” Schumer said in a floor speech on Thursday. “To remind my colleagues, this is not a vote on the bill itself. This is a motion to proceed, a vote that says we should have a debate and should have amendments.”
Despite Schumer’s call for changes to the bill, several Democratic senators have already indicated they will support its final passage, and at least two – John Fetterman of Pennsylvania and Ruben Gallego of Arizona – have signed on as co-sponsors of the legislation.
“Arizonans know the real-life consequences of today’s border crisis,” Gallego said in a statement on Wednesday. “We must give law enforcement the means to take action when illegal immigrants break the law, to prevent situations like what occurred to Laken Riley. I will continue to fight for the safety of Arizonans by pushing for comprehensive immigration reform and increased border security.”
Some Democratic critics have attacked the bill as a sloppy attempt to rewrite the immigration code in a manner that could undermine federal authority and infringe upon the jurisdiction of local law enforcement. If enacted, the legislation would require the Department of Homeland Security to detain undocumented immigrants charged with theft-related crimes and allow state attorneys general to sue the federal government if they believed their states had been harmed by its failure to enforce immigration laws.
“The murder of Laken Riley was an unspeakable, an appalling crime, a heinous act, and no parent, no family should ever have to bear such a calamity,” representative Jamie Raskin, the top Democrat on the House judiciary committee, said during the chamber’s floor debate on Tuesday. “But this bill fails to take any meaningful action to improve our broken immigration system and to prevent crimes like this from occurring again.”
Immigrant rights advocates have also warned that the bill’s enactment could clear the way for Trump to follow through on his threat of mass deportations, as the president-elect has pledged to deport as many as 1 million undocumented people a year.
“Mandating mass detention will make us less safe, sapping resources and diverting taxpayer money away from addressing public safety needs,” Sarah Mehta, senior border policy counsel for the ACLU, said in a statement. “Detaining a mother who admits to shoplifting diapers for her baby, or elderly individuals who admit to nonviolent theft when they were teenagers, is wasteful, cruel, and unnecessary.”
The House’s approval of the Laken Riley Act marked the first bill passage of the new Congress, in a clear sign of Republicans’ laser focus on immigration as they regain control of the White House and the Senate. Republicans have accused Democrats who oppose the bill of ignoring the wishes of voters who delivered a victory for Trump and his party in November.
“House Republicans heard the voices of those who wanted change and voted to pass the Laken Riley Act,” Mike Johnson, the newly re-elected speaker of the House, said in a statement on Tuesday. “We will always fight to protect Americans, and today’s success is just the beginning of Republican efforts to undo the catastrophic damage caused by years of the Democrats’ failed leadership.”
