WASHINGTON — Newly in the minority, Senate Democrats voted with Republicans on Thursday to advance legislation that would require federal authorities to detain unauthorized immigrants who have been accused of certain crimes.
It was a signal that Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer will find spots to work with President-elect Donald Trump while trying to block much of his agenda. Schumer and most other Democrats voted to proceed with the legislation, advancing the bill 84-9.
Trump and Republicans have pushed the bill and made it a priority since Georgia nursing student Laken Riley was killed last year by a Venezuelan man who entered the U.S. illegally and was allowed to stay to pursue his immigration case.
Schumer’s support for the bill comes after Democrats lost the Senate and the presidency in the November elections. Republicans will need seven Democratic votes to pass most major policy items in the 53-47 Senate, and Schumer has maintained that Thune will have to work with them to get things done.
Yet he Schumer hasn’t promised to vote for the final bill. He made clear that Democrats will only allow it to pass if Republicans work with them on bipartisan amendments. Thursday’s procedural vote will allow that process to begin.
U.S. Sen. Angus King, a Maine independent who caucuses with Democrats, voted to advance the legislation, saying in a Thursday statement he looks forward “to the continued conversations to improve this bill with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle and am willing to sit down for tough conversations that will lead to effective policies.
“From the day I entered the U.S. Senate, I have been voicing my concerns on the need for Congress to work together on comprehensive immigration reform,” King said. “And I know from my conversations that there are many areas for bipartisan agreement.”
The new Democratic strategy is a shift from Trump’s first term, when Democrats openly and aggressively fought Trump on policy. And it’s evidence of the delicate balance that Schumer is trying to strike after Republicans dominated last year’s elections and some of the more moderate members of his caucus are trying to show they can work with the new president.
Moderate Democrats have supported some Republican efforts to crack down on immigration and have signaled they may support the final bill. Several Democrats who were up for re-election last year embraced stricter immigration controls as a way to blunt GOP attacks as the Biden administration struggled to manage an influx of migrants at the Southwest border.
The House passed the legislation earlier this week, making the legislation one of the first actions in the newly Republican-controlled Congress after they seized on Riley’s murder as a rallying point during the election. Maine’s Democratic representatives split on the measure, with Rep. Jared Golden of the 2nd District voting for it and Rep. Chellie Pingree of the 1st District opposing it.
The measure would require U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to arrest unauthorized migrants who commit theft, burglary, larceny, or shoplifting offenses and mandate that they are detained until they are removed from the U.S.
The bill also would allow states to sue the federal government if they can demonstrate harm caused by immigrants who enter the country illegally. The House passed the bill last year, but Schumer did not bring it up for a vote when Democrats were in the majority.
Story by Mary Clare Jalonick. BDN writer Billy Kobin contributed to this report.
