Democrats Are Finally Fighting Back Against a New GOP Immigration Bill

Republicans have passed immigration bills this year with bipartisan support. Democrats are finally pushing back.

Rep. Pete Aguilar, D-Calif., House Minority Leader-elect Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., and Rep. Katherine Clark, D-Mass.

Rep. Pete Aguilar House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries Rep. Katherine Clark talk before Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy addresses Congress. J. Scott Applewhite/AP

In an effort to keep the immigration conversation centered on Republicans, Democrats have recently tried to stay away from high-profile battles over undocumented immigrants.

But with a bill to defund “sanctuary cities” coming to the floor, Democrats are putting together a formal whip operation to oppose the GOP legislation.

It’s a different posturing than their attitude toward the Laken Riley Act, the first bill Congress passed this year. And it’s a different effort from their response to a Republican-led measure that passed the House in January that would make sexual and domestic violence deportable offenses. (The Senate has yet to take up the bill, but it would likely garner bipartisan support.)