These Senate Democrats Joined the GOP to Expand Mandatory Detention and Empower Trump

Earlier today, the Senate took its final vote to pass the Laken Riley Act. Before diving in, to avoid repetition, here’s some background on this bill:

The bill, which they passed [the House] a year ago, would mandate that any undocumented immigrant accused of shoplifting or other minor crimes be put into federal detention, with no regard for whether a judge actually believes someone poses a threat to the community or is a flight risk. As Rep. Jerry Nadler (NY-12) remarked in pointed comments on the House floor last year: “Let’s think about that. Someone who is arrested but who is never even charged is now going to be subject to mandatory immigration detention.”

The ACLU came out quickly with a statement condemning the bill: “This is the first immigration bill of the new Congress, and if passed, it will strengthen President-elect Trump’s hand in unleashing mass deportations on our communities. It will force immigration authorities to detain individuals accused of nonviolent theft offenses like shoplifting regardless of whether or not law enforcement even deems them as a threat. Mandating mass detention will make us less safe, sapping resources and diverting taxpayer money away from addressing public safety needs. Detaining a mother who admits to shoplifting diapers for her baby, or elderly individuals who admit to nonviolent theft when they were teenagers, is wasteful, cruel, and unnecessary.” (emphasis added)

As I wrote last year, “That combination of harsh treatment without due process, abandonment of Congressional process, and generally repugnant xenophobia should have been a deal-breaker for Democrats.” But alas…

It also allows state attorneys general to sue the federal government for failures to enforce immigration laws, allowing Ken Paxton to dictate US federal immigration policy.

You might think that a Democratic Party that cares about protecting constitutional rights and protecting the most vulnerable would be outspoken against this bill. But that is a Democratic Party that often does not exist. Instead, we have one where party leaders like Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer allow caucus members to be their most craven selves out of misguided interpretations of electoral interest.

Voting for xenophobic bills like the Laken Riley Act will not prevent Republicans from running sensationalist ads against Democrats. Instead, Republicans will just ratchet up the bills they pass and run sensationalist ads whether true or false. By voting for such bills, Democrats gain nothing and lose principles.

The Senate voted 64 to 35 to pass it.

12 Democrats joined Republicans: Catherine Cortez Masto (NV), John Fetterman (PA), Ruben Gallego (AZ), Maggie Hassan (NH), Mark Kelly (AZ), Jon Ossoff (GA), Gary Peters (MI), Jacky Rosen (NV), Jeanne Shaheen (NH), Elissa Slotkin (MI), Raphael Warnock (GA), and Mark Warner (VA).

As a reminder, although this is not a defense of the other craven, xenophobic Democrats who voted for this bill, Hassan, Shaheen, and Warner can’t even say that Trump won their states. He didn’t.

Warnock had actually voted against cloture making his vote for passage even more inexplicable.

Although most Democrats voted against the bill (35, obviously), only the 9 who voted against moving the bill forward in the first place deserve true credit: Cory Booker (D-NJ), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Andy Kim (D-NJ), Ed Markey (D-MA), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Brian Schatz (D-HI), Tina Smith (D-MN), and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA).

The Senate voted twice to make the bill even more expansive. They voted 70 to 25 for an amendment from John Cornyn (TX) to add assaulting a police officer to the list of crimes in the bill. This is a widely overused and misused charge routinely employed to lengthen sentences and increase prosecutorial bargaining power.

Here are the 25 who rightly voted no: Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD), Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-DE), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Andy Kim (D-NJ), Angus King (I-ME), Ed Markey (D-MA), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Chris Murphy (D-CT), Patty Murray (D-WA), Alex Padilla (D-CA), Jack Reed (D-RI), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Brian Schatz (D-HI), Adam Schiff (D-CA), Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Tina Smith (D-MN), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Pete Welch (D-VT), and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI).

The Senate voted 75 to 24 to expand the bill again before its final passage, with only Angus King from that list flipping his vote to a yes.