After the issue served as a political albatross for them in the last election, Democrats are taking steps in the early days of the new Congress to recalibrate on immigration.
Scores of Democrats are supporting the first bill to hit the floor of both GOP-led chambers this year: the Laken Riley Act, named for the 22-year-old Georgia nursing school student who was murdered last year by an immigrant in the United States illegally.
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The legislation would require ICE to take custody of people in the country illegally and detain them over theft-related crimes. It would target people who are charged, arrested or convicted of committing an act of "burglary, theft, larceny, or shoplifting," according to the bill text.
The bill passed the House 264-159 earlier this week, with 48 Democrats voting for it. And on Thursday, it moved forward in the Senate by a vote of 84-9.
The openness of some Democrats to supporting a bill that stalled out last year comes as the party looks for an immigration reset heading into the second Trump administration. In the 2024 election, voters trusted Donald Trump over Kamala Harris to handle immigration by a 9-point margin, the NBC News exit poll found. And voters who cited immigration as a top issue backed Trump over Harris 89% to 9%, according to the exit poll.
Final approval in the Senate is still uncertain if the legislation isn't amended, but Republicans are close to getting enough votes to pass it as written.
Some Senate Democrats who represent key battleground states or border communities have endorsed the bill outright, including Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz.; Mark Kelly, D-Ariz.; John Fetterman, D-Pa.; Jon Ossoff, D-Ga.; Elissa Slotkin; D-Mich., and Jacky Rosen, D-Nev. Others say they're only voting to begin debate, and aren't committed to voting for the bill.
Several pro-immigration groups have sharply criticized the bill. But some Democrats say they have fallen out of touch with voters on the issue and led the party astray.
"I think for a long time Democrats have let the advocacy groups push them to the left on immigration and border security issues: pushing them to oppose even popular immigration/border security reforms because it could lead to any deportation," a Senate Democratic aide told NBC News in a text message. "This past election showed that's not where a majority of Americans are at, and that Dems need to be clear they are against criminals — even if that means deporting an undocumented immigrant who committed a crime."
This will likely be just the first of many tests for the party on the issue, as Republicans will look for more opportunities to force Democrats to take tough votes on immigration.
Read more on Thursday's vote →
➡️ Related read: Acting ICE Director P.J. Lechleitner told NBC News that President Joe Biden should "absolutely" have acted sooner to tighten border security to reduce the flow of migrants to the U.S. Read more →
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