Print
Continue to article content
Sen. Debbie Stabenow is one of eight Senate Democrats who supported an amendment to the Senate’s budget during last week’s marathon vote-a-rama that would prohibit undocumented immigrants from receiving stimulus checks. | Alex Wong/Getty Images
Democrats split as progressives rage over immigration vote
WASHINGTON — It took fewer than three weeks of Washington control for Democrats to confront the vexing politics of immigration.
An effort to restrict stimulus checks to undocumented immigrants is blowing a hole in Democrats’ unity in the Biden era, after a bloc of Democrats sided with Republicans over their more progressive colleagues last week. The immigration status of those seeking new stimulus payments is shaping up as a major point of contention among Democrats as the House and Senate write their coronavirus relief bills, presaging the tough fights ahead among the party’s tight majorities in Congress on a politically volatile issue.