Oregon’s U.S. House delegation was split Tuesday on the first bill to come before Congress in the new year: a measure that would require immigration officials to detain undocumented people who have been charged with theft.
The Laken Riley Act passed the house Tuesday with most Republicans and 48 Democrats voting for it. The bill was named after a Georgia nursing student who was murdered by an undocumented man.
U.S. Rep. Val Hoyle voted against a more partisan version of the bill last year. This year she was one of two Oregon Democrats to support it.
“I came here to represent my constituents,” Hoyle told KLCC. “They’re rightly concerned about public safety, they are concerned about immigration.”
Happy Valley Democrat Janelle Bynum and Eastern Oregon Republican Cliff Bentz also voted in favor of the bill, which now heads to the U.S. Senate.
Democrats Suzanne Bonamici, Maxine Dexter and Andrea Salinas voted against the bill.
Bynum won a tough race last year, beating one-term Republican incumbent Lori Chavez-DeRemer.
Immigration was a campaign issue in both Bynum and Hoyle’s races. Hoyle’s Republican opponent, Monique DeSpain, visited the border during the campaign, and accused Hoyle of being soft on fentanyl traffickers.
Hoyle said she strongly supports immigration reform, especially if it's bipartisan.
Democrats who didn’t support the bill, including Seattle's Pramila Jayapal, said they were concerned about due process. The Laken Riley Act doesn’t require immigrants to be convicted, or have confessed to shoplifting, burglary, or other eligible crimes. They just have to have been charged, according to the bill.
Department of Justice data also shows that undocumented immigrants are less likely than U.S. born citizens, or documented immigrants, to commit crimes.
