WASHINGTON — The Senate is poised to vote Thursday on a bill requiring federal detention for undocumented immigrants who are accused of burglary, theft and other crimes. Earlier this week, the Laken Riley Act was the first bill to pass in the newly sworn-in House of Representatives, doing so with bipartisan support. 

Newly in the minority, Senate Democrats voted with Republicans on Thursday to advance the legislation — signaling that they will try to find spots to work with President-elect Donald Trump while simultaneously trying to block much of his agenda.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and most other Democrats voted to proceed with the legislation, advancing the bill 84-9. 

The bill is named after a 22-year-old nursing student who was killed by an undocumented immigrant on the University of Georgia campus in early 2024. A Venezuelan man who entered the country illegally and who had been arrested by police two times previously was found guilty of Riley's murder last November and sentenced to life in prison without parole.

Schumer hasn’t promised to vote for the final bill — and he made clear that Democrats will only allow it to pass if Republicans work with them on bipartisan amendments. Thursday’s procedural vote will allow that process to begin.

The New York Democrat said that 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 also 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 maintained 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 policy. And it's evidence of the delicate balance that Schumer is trying to strike after Republicans dominated last year's elections and some of the more moderate members of his caucus are trying to show they can work with the new president.

The Laken Riley case was a touchstone of Trump’s campaign, which often focused on crimes committed by people who entered the United States illegally. Trump has pledged mass deportations after he takes office Jan. 20.

The Senate vote will be the first to take place since Republicans took control of the chamber. In the Senate, the Laken Riley Act is co-sponsored by two Democrats — Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., and Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz. 

The bill requires the Department of Homeland Security to detain undocumented immigrants arrested by local and state authorities for "burglary, theft, larceny, or shoplifting" and "authorizes states to sue the federal government for decisions or alleged failures related to immigration enforcement."

According to the legislation's official congressional summary, scenarios that states would be allowed to sue the federal government over are a:

• decision to release a non-U.S. national from custody;
• failure to fulfill requirements relating to inspecting individuals seeking admission into the United States, including requirements related to asylum interviews;
• failure to fulfill a requirement to stop issuing visas to nationals of a country that unreasonably denies or delays acceptance of nationals of that country;
• violation of limitations on immigration parole, such as the requirement that parole be granted only on a case-by-case basis; or
• failure to detain an individual who has been ordered removed from the United States.