Senate Democrats say they will vote on a bill to detain migrants accused of crimes

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrats, recently in the minority, say they will vote with Republicans to pass legislation that would require federal authorities to detain undocumented immigrants accused of certain crimes, one of President-elect Donald Trump’s pledges priorities as he will take office later this month.

Leader of the Democrats in the Senate Chuck Schumer announced before Thursday’s vote that he would join several moderates in his party in voting to continue the law, which became a top Republican priority after Georgia nursing student Laken Riley was killed last year a Venezuelan who entered the US illegally and was allowed to stay for an immigration hearing.

But Schumer has not promised to vote for the bill — and he has made clear that Democrats will only allow it to pass if Republicans work with them on bipartisan amendments. A procedural vote on Thursday will allow that process to begin.

New Majority Leader John Thune, RS.D., “said he wants to make the Senate a place where all members should be able to express their voices,” Schumer said on the Senate floor. “This bill would be a great place to start.”

Schumer backed the bill after Democrats lost the Senate and the presidency in November’s election and is trying to craft a smart fight against Trump while trying to block much of his agenda. Republicans will need seven Democratic votes to pass most major policy items in the 53-47 Senate, and Schumer says Thune will have to work with them to get results.

Moderate Democrats have supported some Republican efforts to fight immigration and have made it clear they will support the bill. Several Democrats who ran for re-election last year introduced stricter immigration controls as a way to blunt GOP attacks as the Biden administration struggled to deal with an influx of migrants at the southwest border.

The House of Representatives passed the legislation earlier this week, making the legislation one of the first acts in the new Republican-controlled Congress after Riley’s killing became a rallying point in the election. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is required to arrest unauthorized immigrants who commit theft, burglary, theft, or shoplifting and detain them until they are removed from the United States.

The bill would also allow states to sue the federal government if they can demonstrate harm caused by immigrants who entered the country illegally.

House passed the bill last yearbut Schumer did not bring it to a vote when the Democrats were in the majority.

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