Victim and advocacy organization leaders gathered in downtown Minneapolis Tuesday to urge the U.S. Senate to defeat the Laken Riley Act.
The House has already passed the bill, which would mandate federal detention of immigrants for theft, burglary, or similar crimes, even if there are no charges or a conviction.
Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty says that law would lead to potentially false accusations.
"This bill opens the floodgates for people to channel that hate, and make false allegations against non-citizens to get them detained and deported," says Moriarty. "That's not public safety. That's simply cruelty."
The act is named after a 22-year-old nursing student who was killed by a Venezuelan man who was in the U.S. illegally, but had earlier been released by the border patrol agents. He's now serving a life prison sentence.
Supporters of the act say it's essential for public safety and will protect Americans from dangerous illegal aliens who had been detained but released.
Violence Free Minnesota director Guadelupe Lopez says the law is targeting people who are less likely to commit crimes.
"Research indicates that undocumented immigrants are even less likely to commit crimes of violence than individuals born of the United States," Lopez claims. "Such legislation is based on hateful stereotypes that would lead to any meaningful reduction of violence against women."
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer and most other Democrats voted to proceed with the legislation, advancing the bill 84-9 last week.
President-Elect Donald Trump and Republicans have pushed the bill and made it a priority since Riley was killed last year.
Still, Schumer hasn’t promised to vote for the final bill — and he made clear that Democrats want Republicans to work with them on bipartisan amendments. Last Thursday’s procedural vote will allow that process to begin.
On the Senate floor ahead of the vote, Schumer said that new Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., “has said he wants to make the Senate a place where all members should have a chance to make their voices heard. This bill would be a fine place to start.”
Schumer’s support for the bill comes after Democrats lost the Senate and the presidency in the November elections and are trying to thoughtfully pick their battles against Trump while still trying to block much of his agenda. Republicans will need seven Democratic votes to pass most major policy items in the 53-47 Senate, and Schumer has said repeatedly that Thune will have to work with them to get things done.
The new Democratic strategy is a shift from Trump’s first term, when Democrats openly and aggressively fought Trump on most issues. And it’s evidence of the delicate balance that Schumer is trying to strike after Republicans dominated last year’s elections and as some of the more moderate members of his caucus are trying to show they can work with the new president.
Several Democrats who were up for election last year embraced stricter immigration controls partly to blunt GOP attacks as the Biden administration struggled to manage an influx of migrants at the Southwest border. Some of those Democrats suggested they could support the final bill.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.