By AZ Mirror
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate Monday voted to proceed with consideration of a bill that would impose new mandatory immigration detention requirements for immigrants charged with property crimes and give broad legal standing to state attorneys general.
In an 82-10 vote, a majority of Senate Democrats, 32, and one independent, joined Republicans.
Nine Democrats voted against the bill, S. 5, including Sens. Tina Smith of Minnesota, Ben Ray Luján of New Mexico, Jeff Merkley of Oregon, Andy Kim and Cory Booker of New Jersey, Ed Markey and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Brian Schatz and Mazie Hirono of Hawaii. Vermont independent Sen. Bernie Sanders also opposed it.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune said on the Senate floor that the bill, named after 22-year-old Georgia nursing student Laken Riley, is “a common sense measure that should be an unquestioned yes for every senator.”
Jose Antonio Ibarra, a 26-year-old migrant from Venezuela, was charged and convicted of Riley’s murder last month. According to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Ibarra allegedly entered the country illegally in 2022 and was previously arrested in Georgia on a shoplifting charge and was later released.
“It would be incredibly disappointing if Democrats moved to the bill simply to attempt to load it down with poison pills or unrelated measures,” Thune, a South Dakota Republican, said.
