Republicans successfully cornered some moderate House Democrats into voting on a resolution condemning the protests in Los Angeles over Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity. But not as many Democrats crossed the aisle this time as have in other recent votes on immigration issues.
Seven Democrats joined Republicans in condemning the protests, which have become a rallying cry for liberals regarding President Donald Trump’s overreach.
At least one of the Democrats who voted for the motion acknowledged that the vote was more about politics than it was about law and order.
“It is a political move,” Rep. Tom Suozzi of New York told NOTUS. “That’s part of the games that are played down here in Washington.”
Asked if the motion is an attempt to put battleground lawmakers in a bad position, he said, “That’s exactly what it is, no question,” and “it worked.”
“Is this resolution necessary? Probably not,” Suozzi said of the latest vote. “But I do condemn violence, and I’m not going to let people say that I don’t.”
Many in the Democratic Party have felt pressure to embrace more hard-line positions on immigration. At the start of Trump’s term, many Democrats supported the Laken Riley Act, a punitive immigration bill.
Suozzi is something of a poster child for this trend. He flipped former Rep. George Santos’ seat blue partly by embracing border security, and voted for the Laken Riley Act. Now he’s sided with Republicans on the L.A. protests.
But there were far fewer Democrats who backed the Republican-led measure this time than the Laken Riley Act, which won 48 House Democrats and 12 Senate Democrats. This vote on the L.A. protests is yet another sign that anger over the Trump administration’s deportation scheme — which is going after far more undocumented immigrants than its “worst-of-the-worst” mantra indicated — is shifting politics in Washington.
Some Democrats in tough races aren’t sprinting to the hard line when it comes to ICE’s raids.
Rep. Gabe Vasquez, who represents a district that the Cook Political Report has rated a “toss-up,” told NOTUS that “while we should be enforcing current immigration laws” and apprehending the “most violent and most aggressive criminals on the streets, that’s not what ICE is doing.”
“That is the reason that people are protesting in California, and so we should have a real conversation about the enforcement overreach of this administration,” he said. “Until we have that, this is all just for politics, and I’m not going to give into it.”
Increasingly, Democrats are feeling more pressure now to resist, embracing the position that those who have committed crimes should be deported, but those who have been working in the U.S. for years should be offered a path to citizenship.
“They protested something that was valid. I’m against any kind of violence or destruction or anything like that, but the way ICE has done these raids has been inhumane, has been un-American,” said Rep. Vicente Gonzalez, who didn’t support the motion but previously supported the Laken Riley Act. His South Texas district is also rated by the Cook Political Report as a “toss-up” this cycle.
Gonzalez’s district swung heavily for Trump last cycle, but he said he’s still not intimidated by the prospect of being painted as sympathetic to criminals.
“It’s not going to work. It may work in some ultra-red, racist district, but it’s not going to work in the vast majority of America,” Gonzalez said. “Trump and a lot of Republicans have fallen from grace in my area. Even though he won every county in my district, there’s a lot of buyer’s remorse.”
Others said the idea that Republicans could paint anyone as against law and order at this point was laughable.
“Donald Trump pardoned cop killers in his first week in office,” said Rep. Shomari Figures, who also supported the Laken Riley Act but voted against the L.A. resolution. “They can’t sit there and hold a straight face and say that law and order is what they really care about.”
Among the seven Democrats who voted alongside Republicans, at least one represents a predominantly Latino district: Rep. Henry Cuellar, who has been vocal for years about the need for Democrats to embrace border security. His South Texas border district swung last cycle for Trump.
He and Suozzi were joined by Reps. Jim Costa, Don Davis, Laura Gillen, Jared Golden and Adam Gray — almost all of whom are in battleground districts. Six of them face elections that the Cook Political Report has designated as toss-ups or “likely Democratic.”
Meanwhile, Republicans in predominantly Latino districts stood with their party.
“I fully support the right for people to protest, but I certainly do not and will not condone violence,” Rep. Carlos Giménez said. He voted to condemn the protests.
Giménez said the people in his Miami-area district, who might have otherwise been sympathetic to protests against ICE overreach, were put off by what they saw coming out of L.A., which is something even advocates have been worried about.
“They were turned off by the violence,” he said. “It actually didn’t do anybody any good, to be honest with you.”
This story was produced as part of a partnership between NOTUS — a publication from the nonprofit, nonpartisan Allbritton Journalism Institute — and NEWSWELL, home of Times of San Diego, Santa Barbara News-Press and Stocktonia.