WASHINGTON – Republicans in the U.S. Senate gained more than enough Democratic support Thursday to advance a bill that would significantly expand immigrant detention, following a presidential election in which border security was a key issue for President-elect Donald Trump was.
In an 84-9 Procedural coordinationThirty-two Senate Democrats and one independent supported the bill. p. 5sponsored by Katie Britt from Alabama. After the 60-vote threshold has been reached, the law can now be submitted for debate and a final vote.
The only Democrats to vote against the procedural motion were Sens. Tina Smith of Minnesota, Jeff Merkley of Oregon, Andy Kim and Cory Booker of New Jersey, Ed Markey and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, and Brian Schatz and Mazie Hirono of Hawaii. Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont, also opposed it.
Hours before the vote, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said he planned to vote to pass the bill because Democrats want a debate on the measure and an amendment process.
“This is not a vote on the bill itself,” Schumer said on the Senate floor Thursday. “It’s a motion to proceed, a vote that says we should have a debate and table amendments.”
Petty crime in sight
The bill, named after Laken Riley, a 22-year-old nursing student from Georgia, would expand mandatory detention for immigrants — including some with legal status — accused of petty crimes like shoplifting.
María Teresa Kumar, president and CEO of the civic group Voto Latino, said in a statement that the bill is “a frightening first step toward widespread family separation while eliminating important due process protections.”
“The bill’s broad detention requirements would also impact those legally permitted to enter the United States to seek asylum and would impose immediate detention upon them on allegations of minor crimes such as theft, burglary, or shoplifting,” she said. “Such measures not only undermine due process, but also disproportionately target migrants who are already fleeing violence and instability in search of safety.”
The legislation would also give state attorneys general broad legal authority to challenge federal immigration law and bond decisions by immigration judges.
This would include not only undocumented immigrants in the country, but also those with arbitrary legal status such as the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.
Murder in Georgia
Riley was on the run when her roommates became concerned when she didn’t return home. Jose Antonio Ibarra, a 26-year-old migrant from Venezuela, was charged and convicted of her murder last month. According to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Ibarra is believed to have entered the country illegally in 2022.
Ibarra had previously been arrested and released for shoplifting. So the bill pushed for by Republicans would require the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to detain an immigrant who has been charged or arrested for local theft, burglary or shoplifting.
“Her murderer, who came to this country illegally, should never have been in the United States, and after being arrested for multiple crimes before committing the most heinous and unimaginable crime, he should have been arrested immediately by ICE,” Britt said on the Senate floor.
Trump spoke often about Riley’s killing during the campaign and blamed the Biden administration’s immigration policies for her death.
GOP trifecta
The House of Representatives passed his version of the bill, HR29On Tuesday, 48 Democrats joined Republicans. The measure too The House passed on a bipartisan basis in the last Congresswith 37 Democrats voting with the GOP. There was a deadlock in the Senate, where Democrats had a slim majority.
Given the Republican-controlled trifecta in Washington following Trump’s inauguration on January 20 and the fact that it only took seven Democrats in the Senate to pass the 60-vote threshold, the bill has a good chance of becoming law , once it comes to the final vote, raising concerns among immigration advocates.
“With just days to go before Trump’s inauguration and knowing that more attacks on immigrants will occur, there is no excuse for complicity in the hateful demonization of immigrant communities and the violent expansion of the detention and deportation apparatus,” said Juliana Macedo do Nascimento. said the deputy director of federal advocacy for the largest teenage immigrant advocacy group United WeDream Action in a statement.
Democratic supporters
Democrats, still reeling from November election losses, have moved to the right on immigration.
The bill received votes from senators from swing states that Trump led, such as Arizona freshman Ruben Gallego and Michigan freshman Elissa Slotkin.
“Michigan residents have made it loud and clear that they want action to secure our southern border,” Slotkin said in a statement.
She said that while the bill is “not perfect,” she hopes to see an amendment process.
Gallego and Slotkin both voted for the bill in the last Congress when they were members of the House of Representatives.
Both Georgia Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff, who is up for re-election next year, and Raphael Warnock voted for the procedural motion.
“I am voting to initiate floor debate on the Laken Riley Act because I believe the people of Georgia want their legislators in Washington to address the problems with this legislation,” Warnock said in a statement before Thursday’s vote.
Michigan’s Democratic Sen. Gary Peters, who is also up for re-election next year, also voted for the procedural motion.
Last updated 8:43 p.m., January 9, 2025
