Democrats Swing Further Right On Immigration After 2024 Election Losses

The party is embracing a GOP-led bill that would require detention of undocumented immigrants who are charged with nonviolent crimes like theft and burglary.

WASHINGTON — The Senate on Thursday advanced a bill that would require the detention of undocumented immigrants who commit certain crimes, a priority for the new Republican majority following GOP victories in last year’s election.

Unlike last year, when Democrats objected to its quick passage on the Senate floor, this week the vast majority of Democratic senators joined the GOP in support of opening debate on the bill, named the Laken Riley Act. The vote was 84-9, more than enough to break a filibuster.

The bipartisan vote in the Senate, which follows a similar one in the House earlier this week, represents a major change in strategy for a party still reeling the loss of both chambers of Congress and the presidency. Immigration was a top issue in the November election, one Republicans effectively used as a cudgel against Democrats to win support across the country.

“If we can’t get at least seven [votes] out of 47 … then that’s a reason why we lost,” Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.), who voted for the bill, told Fox News on Wednesday. “That’s one of why we lost, in part.”

The bill is named for a nursing school student from Georgia who was murdered while jogging by a migrant from Venezuela on parole. In addition to requiring federal detention of undocumented immigrants charged with crimes, the measure would grant power to state attorneys general to sue the federal government if they can show their states are being harmed over a failure to implement national immigration policies.