Senate votes to move forward on 'Laken Riley' immigration bill

WASHINGTON — The Senate overwhelmingly voted to move forward Thursday on a bill that would impose stricter measures on undocumented migrants who commit crimes in the United States, although many Democrats said they would seek to change some provisions.

The 84-9 vote on a procedural motion easily surpassed the 60-vote threshold needed to overcome a filibuster, setting up an early test in the coming days on whether Democrats could support the GOP-backed immigration proposal.

One of the Democratic votes came from Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer of New York, who made it clear that this was not a vote on the bill itself, just a vote to have debate and amendments on 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 Thursday before the vote.

And Schumer teed up the process as a test of sorts for new Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., who said in his first remarks in that role that he wants all senators to have a chance to make their voices heard.

“Well, this would be, this bill would be, a fine place to start,” Schumer said. “We should allow debate and amendments on the bill. This is an important issue.”

The Laken Riley Act is named for a 22-year-old woman murdered last year by an undocumented immigrant who had been released after an arrest. Her story has become a rallying cry for right-wing criticism of the Biden administration’s immigration policies.

The legislation would require the secretary of Homeland Security to issue a detainer for undocumented immigrants arrested for or convicted of burglary, theft or shoplifting. It would also let states sue the federal government if they feel U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement doesn’t enforce the previous component of the bill.

The House on Tuesday voted 264-159 to pass that chamber’s version of the legislation. If it passes the Senate, Republicans say this could be the first bill President-elect Donald Trump signs once he takes office on Jan. 20.

Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., one of the leaders of the push for the bill in the Senate, said at a press conference after the vote that Republicans are open to amendments.

“We have been talking with our colleagues in the Republican conference, our colleagues across the aisle, and trying to get an idea of what a universe of amendments looks like,” Britt said. “One of the things that Leader Thune said earlier, which was, this is not a comprehensive bill, so we’re not interested in making it that. This is very targeted, and so we want to keep it in that realm.”

Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., the majority whip, said Thursday on the floor before the vote that he expected the procedural vote to be approved and it is “nice to see the results of the election in November have changed the thinking of some of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle.”

But Barrasso indicated that at least some Democratic amendments would be unacceptable to his party.

“There are some Democrat senators who say they support the Laken Riley Act, but they want to weaken it,” Barrasso said. “Well, to be clear, Senate Republicans are not weakening this lifesaving legislation. We will not allow that to happen.”

Democratic concerns

Still, Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., and other Democrats who voted for the procedural motion said they had concerns about the bill that they hoped would be addressed.

Kaine said he voted to proceed to the bill because it’s “an important topic and we ought to be debating it.”

But he said concerns include that detention of a noncitizen can depend on an arrest rather than a conviction, the provisions that allow state attorneys general to file lawsuits over immigration enforcement, and the possibility that there will be a cost to implementing the bill.

Britt said the law currently requires detention for those seeking an asylum claim, so the bill does not take away any due process for detention on an arrest only. “So if you have an immigration claim, or if you have a claim in criminal court, you have an opportunity to see those claims through,” Britt said. “This does not halt either one of those processes, so you would be able to continue both of those.”

Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said he voted to move to debate the bill “but I also hope and expect we’ll have our amendments,” and was one of several Democrats who pointed out the law does not have an age included and would apply to children.

“I’d like to see an amendment, for example, that requires conviction of a crime, as opposed to just an arrest, before it results in deportation,” Blumenthal said. “I’d also like to make sure that children are protected from deportation in the event that they’re arrested for shoplifting, for example.”

Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., said he voted against the procedural motion because the bill should go through committee. “This has far-reaching consequences, not just for undocumented immigrants, but for American citizens,” Merkley said.

A person who’s been in the U.S. for 30 years and never broken a law “could have a police officer mistakenly flag them for shoplifting, and they’re detained and indefinitely thrown out of the country,” Merkley said.

“And they have an American partner, they have children, they’ve been a model contributor to the community. I mean you could have a child swipe a pack of gum and get indefinitely detained,” Merkley said.

Sen. Mazie K. Hirono, D-Hawaii, said she is in favor of comprehensive immigration reform and this bill “is not it.”

“I think the Democrats should stand for, as I said, comprehensive immigration reform. This is not the bill that is going to do that,” Hirono said. “A bill that enables 10-year-olds to be detained is not comprehensive immigration reform.”

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