Seven Democratic Senators and independent allies introduced a bill that would give Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) more power to arrest immigrants who entered the country illegally and were charged with violent crimes.
The bill is presented as Democrats strengthen their tough-on-immigration stance amid a while the GOP concentrates on the policy for the 2024 election. Three of the bill’s sponsors, Democratic Sens. Sherrod Brown (Ohio), Tammy Baldwin (Wis.) and Bob Casey (Pa.), face challenging reelection battles.
Sens. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Angus King (I-Maine) and Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.) also supported the measure.
“Although we are aware that immigrants are less likely to commit crimes than Americans, there are times when ICE needs to take custody of a noncitizen accused or convicted of a serious crime,” Murphy stated. “This proposal is a narrowly-tailored, practical solution to address that serious gap, while also upholding the due process rights of noncitizens.”
Under current law, ICE makes detainer requests in local jurisdictions to detain undocumented people who are arrested by local police. Not all jurisdictions comply with the requests. Enabling ICE to request judicial warrants for those charged with violent crimes ensures that they will be detained by federal authorities.
Murphy, however, clarified that the Democrats’ proposal is significantly different from those made by Republicans to prohibit “sanctuary cities” — areas that disregard the detainer requests — or allow local police to detain any individual suspected of being an undocumented immigrant.
The most significant House GOP effort, the Laken Riley Act, specifically targets undocumented individuals charged with theft, named for a Georgia student killed by one such undocumented migrant last month.
“Unlike the bills proposed by House Republicans, this legislation would actually resolve one of the issues facing our immigration system, rather than serve as a messaging tool to demonize immigrants,” Murphy said. “If Republicans are interested in anything other than political theater they should support this bill.”
The National Republican Senatorial Committee [NRSC] dismissed the measure, condemning it as a political stunt to shift focus away from what the GOP has criticized as weak border policy.
“It’s an election year, so they are trying to fool voters by rewriting their records, and it will not work,” NRSC spokesperson Mike Berg said in a statement to The Associated Press.
Some Democrats, especially those in tight 2024 races, have criticized President Biden for his border policy. Just more than a dozen House Democrats approved a resolution denouncing Biden last week, and more than 20 launched a border policy task force earlier this month.
