Democratic tensions over immigration policy have heightened in recent months, with swing-district Democrats supporting President Donald Trump’s crackdown on sanctuary cities even as immigration groups threaten a “break” between the party and progressives.
Some Democratic lawmakers are openly blaming the party’s progressive wing for its election loss in November and expressing worry that interest groups have too much influence over the party’s agenda, Politico reported Tuesday. Immigration advocacy groups, meanwhile, are threatening what Politico called “a more profound break between the Democratic Party and its progressive base” if Democrats don’t join them in opposing the Trump administration’s immigration policies.
The Democratic infighting comes after House and Senate Democrats joined Republicans last month in passing the Laken Riley Act, which requires authorities to detain illegal immigrants who have committed theft or similar crimes.
Congressional Republicans are now preparing a vote on the No Bailout for Sanctuary Cities Act, which would cut federal funding to any jurisdictions that restrict cooperation with federal immigration authorities. Immigration groups fear that Democrats may again break ranks to support the bill.
“All the Democrats need to hold together,” ACLU deputy director of government affairs Naureen Shah told Politico, saying that “we have to defeat” the act.
Swing-district Democrats are taking a different tone. “I don’t listen to the ACLU—I listen to my district, how it feels on the ground,” said Rep. Vicente Gonzalez (Texas), who represents a district that Trump won in 2024 and who voted for the Laken Riley Act.
Rep. Darren Soto (D., Fla.), whose district narrowly voted for Kamala Harris in 2024, said that, rather than agreeing with “every single point of every advocacy group,” he will “pick and choose what positions I take based upon what I believe and what our district believes.”
