The left’s once-progressive stances on immigration are crumbling further as the second Trump era dawns on Washington, Politico reports. On Wednesday, eight Senate Democrats — among them many of the party’s rising stars and potential 2028 presidential candidates — said they would move legislation forward to detain undocumented immigrants charged with theft or burglary. The Democratic support was enough to open debate in the upper chamber. In the House, dozens of Democrats, some of whom are rumored to be eyeing higher office, also backed the legislation Tuesday. It was a stark shift from Trump’s first term, when his so-called Muslim ban and family separation policy lit a fire under an enraged base, inspiring fiery protests that Democratic senators and House members attended. Now, it seems, a new reality has set in among Democrats in the wake of a landslide victory by Trump powered by backlash to President Joe Biden’s management of the border and a general change in public opinion on stemming immigration. The effort to discredit Trump’s border policies has failed.
It's a stark contrast with Trump’s first term. “The reaction in ‘16 was dramatic. You had the Women’s March immediately after the election,” said Mark Longabaugh, a former adviser to Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-Vt.) presidential campaign. “This time, there almost is a level of resignation it seems. And so you haven’t seen much in the way of resistance so far. And, in fact, I think this is a signal that at least Democratic legislators in the Congress perceive a need to move to the center or move to the right on immigration.” This week, Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.), the first Democrat in the upper chamber to sponsor the House’s bill, known as the Laken Riley Act, urged his party to back the legislation and consider how voters in his battleground state would see the issue. “Pretend that you’re in a parking lot at Walmart in Scranton, and it’s like, ‘Well, I’m going to vote against the bill that allows people to deport people that were charged of crimes or they have a criminal record.’ How do you think that would go over?” he said. “That’s why we lose if you want to try to make that argument.”
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