WASHINGTON – The Senate voted Thursday to begin debate on the Laken Riley Act, clearing a key hurdle to advancing a Republican-led bill aimed at cracking down on illegal immigration that has garnered significant support from the democrats.
By a vote of 84-9, the bill easily cleared the 60-vote threshold to advance in the GOP-controlled Senate. But many Democrats have suggested they want to modify the bill, so it is unclear whether it will receive enough support for final passage.
“This is an important issue. We should have a debate and amendments,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said in a speech before voting to continue the debate. “To remind my colleagues, this is not a vote on the bill itself. “It’s a motion to proceed, a vote that says we should have a debate and amendments.”
The openness of some Democrats to supporting the legislation comes as the party recalibrates its perspective on immigration after being hit politically over the issue. In the 2024 election, voters trusted President-elect Donald Trump over Kamala Harris to handle immigration by a 9-point margin, according to NBC News exit polls. And voters who cited immigration as a top issue backed Trump over Harris by 89% to 9%, according to exit polls.
The Laken Riley Act would change federal law to require ICE, which operates under the Department of Homeland Security, to take custody of people who are in the country illegally and detain them for theft-related crimes. It would target people charged, arrested or convicted of committing an act of “robbery, theft, theft or shoplifting,” according to the text of the bill.
The legislation would also empower state attorneys general to sue the federal government for alleged failures to enforce immigration law “if the State or its residents suffer damages, including financial damages that exceed $100.”
Some Democrats representing competitive states or border communities have strongly backed the bill, including Sens. Rubén Gallego, D-Ariz.; Mark Kelly, Democrat of Arizona; John Fetterman, D-Pa.; Jon Ossoff, D-Ga.; Elissa Slotkin; D-Mich., and Jacky Rosen, D-Nev.
“Senator. Ossoff supports the Laken Riley Act and plans to vote in favor,” a spokesperson for the Georgia senator, who is seeking re-election in 2026, said in a statement Thursday.
The bill, the first of the new Congress that was sworn in last week, is named after the 22-year-old Georgia nursing student who was murdered in 2024 by an immigrant who was in the United States illegally; On Friday he would have turned 23 years old.
It passed the GOP-led House 264-159 earlier this week, with 48 Democrats voting in favor. In the Senate, Republicans hold 53 seats and, with full turnout, would need at least seven Democrats next week to ensure final passage of the legislation as written.
One school of thought among Democrats is that the existing bill is poorly written but can be saved with amendments.
“I think there’s an opportunity to address the bill and try to amend it to make it better,” said Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn. “The underlying bill appears to be poorly constructed legislation. But we could potentially improve it.”
According to a Senate aide, Democrats are considering modifying the bill’s language to lower the threshold for what triggers ICE’s detention of an undocumented person. Currently, it covers any person who “is charged with, arrested, convicted of, admits to having committed, or admits to having committed acts constituting the essential elements of any crime of robbery, theft, theft, or shoplifting.”
“I think taking it to a better place so people feel more comfortable that this is actually going to target people who do bad things, and not be used in a potentially nefarious way,” the aide said, while emphasizing that the Democrats intend to “engage in a serious way” to improve it, not make “a pie in the sky” he asks.
The Senate Democratic aide said the party has been willing to commit to stricter border laws for some time, saying, “This is where voters continue to move and good elected officials continue to listen to them.”
If the Senate adds amendments to the bill, it would have to return to the House for final approval. If the legislation is not amended, it is still unclear whether it will have enough votes to pass.
Some immigration advocates are calling on Democrats to eliminate the provision that empowers state attorneys general to sue the federal government, warning that it will be exploited by bad actors.
“If they want to show that they are serious about border security, this is not the bill. This is a trap,” said Kerri Talbot, executive director of the advocacy group Immigration Hub and former aide to Senate Democrats. “All they have to do is read the bill to see that it is unconstitutional, puts long-established immigrants at risk, and allows the Ken Paxtons of the country to attack families.”
In addition to the Laken Riley Act, Republicans plan to introduce several immigration bills in the House and Senate in the coming weeks to appease conservatives who want to address the border immediately and force Democrats to take difficult votes.
A second Democratic aide said the political dynamics on the issue are changing.
“I think for a long time Democrats have let advocacy groups push them to the left on immigration and border security issues: pushing them to oppose even popular immigration and border security reforms because they could lead to any deportations,” he said. the assistant, who spoke. He spoke candidly about this sensitive topic on condition of anonymity, he wrote in a text message. “This past election showed that the majority of Americans are not in that situation, and that Democrats must make clear that they are against criminals, even if that means deporting an undocumented immigrant who committed a crime.”
As he left the room, Fetterman responded to a question about why he thinks more Democrats are signing on to the Laken Riley Act.
“A blinding flash of common sense,” he said.
