(Headline USA) Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., blasted his own party this week over its refusal to get behind the Laken Riley Act, arguing their opposition to the immigration measure shows why they lost to President-elect Donald Trump in November.
Fetterman became the first Senate Democrat to co-sponsor the Laken Riley Act this week.
The bill, named after the 22-year-old Georgia nursing student who was murdered by an illegal alien last year, would make it easier for federal immigration authorities to take into custody and deport illegal aliens charged with, arrested, or convicted of crimes in the U.S.
During an interview with Fox News on Tuesday, Fetterman said he doesn’t know why anyone finds it controversial that illegal aliens who commit crimes “need to go.”
“For me it’s … really common sense,” he said. “And I’d like to remind everybody that we have hundreds and hundreds of thousands of migrants here illegally that have [been] convicted of crimes. Who wants to allow them to remain in our nation?”
In order for the bill to pass the Senate, a number of Democrats will have to vote for it, Fetterman pointed out.
“There’s 47 of us in the Senate and if we can’t pull up with seven votes, if we can’t get at least seven out of 47, if we can’t, then that’s a reason why we lost,” he added.
The Laken Riley Act will now head to the Senate after the Republican-controlled House passed it this week. Unsurprisingly, the vast majority of House Democrats voted against it. Just 48 Democrats joined Republicans in supporting it.
Seven of those House Democrats ended up flipping their votes to “yes” on the measure. Reps. Brendan Boyle, D-Pa., Val Hoyle, D-Ore., Lucy McBath, D-Ga., Joe Morelle, D-N.Y., Ritchie Torres, D-N.Y., and Terri Sewell, D-Ala., initially voted against the Laken Riley Act when it was first introduced last year, but voted “yes” this week.
