WASHINGTON — When Donald Trump took office in 2017 with promises to crack down on immigration, he was met by widespread protests that filled churches, airports and union halls as Democratic lawmakers vowed to fight the new Republican president at every turn.
The second time around, Democrats helped send an immigration bill to his desk during his first week in office.
Stinging from election losses, the Democratic Party has so far been splintered in responding to Trump’s push against illegal immigration. Yet the party’s soul searching comes as the stakes could hardly be higher. The new president is acting to seal off the U.S.-Mexico border to asylum seekers and deport millions of immigrants who do not have permanent legal status.
“I think Donald Trump has painted the Democratic Party into a corner on immigration, and it’s going to take us a while to get out of the corner,” said Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo. “I want us acting out of conviction about what we believe about immigration rather than out of fear.”
On Capitol Hill, a crucial faction of Democrats are looking for places of agreement with Trump.
Between the House and Senate, 58 Democrats last week voted to pass the Laken Riley Act, which requires federal authorities to detain migrants accused of theft, assaulting a police officer, or other crimes that injure or kill someone.
Meanwhile, other congressional Democrats said they spent the last week addressing the fears and developing resources for those who could be deported. Rep. Juan Vargas, D-Calif., joined a priest at Our Lady of Guadalupe church in San Diego last weekend, carrying the Eucharist from home to home because so many in the congregation feared to go outside.
For Republicans, the votes on the Laken Riley Act were proof that they had found a winning message on illegal immigration. They are planning to continue pushing immigration legislation, as well as a roughly $100 billion package that would enable Trump to carry out his border plans.
Democratic senators willing to back tougher enforcement could be crucial. It takes support from 60 senators to advance most legislation; Republicans hold a 53-47 majority.
“It’s a really important moment for the country. And it’s always good when the right thing is also the popular thing,” House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said after the Laken Riley Act passed. It was named after a Georgia nursing student who was killed last year by a Venezuelan man who had entered the United States illegally and was allowed to stay and to pursue his immigration case.
Since last year, many Democrats have steadily moved to the right on border security, emphasizing the need for stricter immigration enforcement after historic numbers of migrants arrived at times under Joe Biden’s presidency.
