Oh, So That's Why These 12 Dem Senators Backed the Laken Riley Act

Matt Vespa | January 22, 2025 10:30 PM

The Laken Riley Act is now heading to Donald Trump’s desk for signature. It’s about time: a new law that will require the detention of illegal aliens who commit crimes. It’s common sense. The people already committed a crime entering our country illegally. Still, Democrats needed to have a refresher on enforcing immigration laws after hordes of these people have gone about raping and killing our citizens under the era of Biden's incompetence.

SENTE PASSES LAKEN RILEY IMMIGRATION BILL.

12 Democrats who voted YES

Catherine Cortez—NV
Fetterman—PA
Gallego—AZ
Hassan—NH
Mark Kelly—AZ
Jon Ossoff—GA
Gary Peters—MI
Jackie Rosen—NV
Shaheen—NH
Slotkin—MI
Mark Warner—VA
Warnock—GApic.twitter.com/i28U8MHRps
— Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) January 21, 2025

From colleague Kelly Phares. 12 Dems vote for Laken Riley Act:
Cortez Masto
Fetterman
Gallego
Hassan
Kelly
Ossoff
Peters
Rosen
Shaheen
Slotkin
Warner
Warnock
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) January 20, 2025

Here's the list of Democrats who voted for the Laken Riley Act—AKA the future of their party. For the Democrats to be competitive again, they have to recapture the pro-labor policies they abandoned in the 90s. That starts with radically reducing immigration. pic.twitter.com/W6iWFomzNp
— Batya Ungar-Sargon (@bungarsargon) January 21, 2025

How every member of Congress voted for the Laken Riley Act.

Notes:
Only two Democrats in Trump districts voted against the act (Vasquez - NM 2 and Pou - NJ 9)

Lots of California, New England, and NY Dems joined the GOP

3 Members of that represent parts of NYC voted for it. pic.twitter.com/bYeFgloTlX
— Ryan James Girdusky (@RyanGirdusky) January 7, 2025

It sailed through the House and passed the Senate with significant bipartisan support: 12 Democratic senators voted to pass the law, all of which hail from states that either Trump won in 2024, are on the border, or are up for reelection in 2026. And some face very tough reelection roads ahead (via Roll Call):

Twelve Senate Democrats voted with Republicans … to pass a bill on immigration, a topic that has faced congressional gridlock for years, to address one of President Donald Trump’s top campaign issues just hours after he was sworn in for a second term.
The legislation, known as the Laken Riley Act and named for a 22-year-old woman who was murdered last year while jogging at the University of Georgia, would allow for stricter punishments of undocumented immigrants who commit crimes in the United States.
The measure now goes to the House, which approved a previous version of the legislation earlier this month, with 48 House Democrats joining Republicans to vote in favor. Senate Democrats overwhelmingly voted to begin debate on the bill on Jan. 9, and 10 of them voted on Friday to advance the amended measure.

First immigration law in the new Trump era passed: