Congress handed President Trump an early win on the issue of immigration with the passage of the Laken Riley Act by the House on Wednesday.
While the bill was heavily backed by Republicans in both chambers, there were also supportive votes from a number of Democrats. The bill, which President Trump is expected to sign, requires large numbers of migrants lacking legal status to be detained.
A number of the House’s pro-Laken Riley Act Democrats are moderates who have had to face challenging races for their seats in the past. In a recent poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, over half of Americans said immigration is an important priority for Trump to tackle this year.
The House pro-Laken Riley Act Democrats, according to the House clerk’s website, included Reps. Sanford Bishop Jr. (D-Ga.), Brendan Boyle (D-Pa.), Nikki Budzinski (D-Ill.), Janelle Bynum (D-Ore.), Jim Costa (D-Calif.), Joe Courtney (D-Conn.), Angie Craig (D-Minn.), Henry Cuellar (D-Texas), Sharice Davids (D-Kan.), Don Davis (D-N.C.), Shomari Figures (D-Ala.), Laura Gillen (D-N.Y.), Jared Golden (D-Maine), Vicente Gonzalez (D-Texas), Maggie Goodlander (D-N.H.), Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.), Adam Gray (D-Calif.), Josh Harder (D-Calif.), Jahana Hayes (D-Conn.), Steven Horsford (D-Nev.), Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio), Greg Landsman (D-Ohio), Susie Lee (D-Nev.), Mike Levin (D-Calif.) Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.) John Mannion (D-N.Y.), Lucy McBath (D-Ga.), April McClain Delaney (D-Md.), Kristen McDonald Rivet (D-Mich.), Dave Min (D-Calif.), Joseph Morelle (D-N.Y.), Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.), Chris Pappas (D-N.H.), Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-Wash.), Hillary Scholten (D-Mich.), Kim Schrier (D-Wash.) Terri Sewell (D-Ala.), Eric Sorensen (D-Ill.), Greg Stanton (D-Ariz.), Suhas Subramanyam (D-Va.), Tom Suozzi (D-N.Y.), Emilia Sykes (D-Ohio), Dina Titus (D-Nev.), Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.), Derek Tran (D-N.Y.) and Eugene Vindman (D-Va.).
Before its passage in the House, the Laken Riley Act passed the Senate on Monday with twelve votes from Democrats including Sens. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.), Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.), Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.), Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), Gary Peters (D-Mich.), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.), Mark Warner (D-Va.) and John Fetterman (D-Pa.).
Like some of the House’s pro-Laken Riley Act Democrats, many of the Senate’s pro-Laken Riley Act Democrats are from battleground regions of the country like Georgia and Arizona.
“Not only am I voting yes on the Laken Riley Act, I’m cosponsoring the bill,” Gallego said in a post on the social platform X earlier this month. “Arizonans know better than most the real consequences of today’s border crisis. We must give law enforcement the means to take action to prevent tragedies like what occurred to Laken Riley.”
