On Monday, Democratic Sens. Mark Kelly and Ruben Gallego of Arizona made good on their intentions to back the bill. Gallego, for one, cosponsored it. The bill, named for Laken Riley, a Georgia woman believed to be slain last year by an immigrant who was in ...

A growing number of Democrats are trying to save the party by bringing it back down to earth. Arizona Sen. Ruben Gallego is one of them.

The Arizona senator said he’s breaking with a party that’s “largely out of touch with where your average Latino is.”

Kelly and Gallego joined eight other Senate Democrats to help the Republican-led immigrant crime bill thwart a filibuster.

Down-ballot, Democratic candidates in statewide contests consistently won more votes than the top of the ticket, allowing Democrats to eke out U.S. Senate wins in Nevada, Michigan, Wisconsin and Arizona, and heralding the return of ticket-splitting, a phenomenon that had largely vanished in recent elections — until 2024.

The bill is named after Laken Riley, a nursing student who was killed last year. The legislation would require federal officials to detain any unauthorized immigrant arrested or charged with a violent crime.

Mark Kelly and Ruben Gallego of Arizona made good on their intentions to back the bill. Gallego, for one, cosponsored it. The bill, named for Laken Riley, a Georgia woman believed to be slain last ...

The Laken Riley Act would require the detention of unauthorized immigrants accused of theft and violent crimes

Arizona Democrats were ready to fight Donald Trump on immigration. Now they find their own senators siding with Republicans.

I say this is an “easy” solution, but we have seen that changes to immigration policy are never easy. Former President Joe Biden, in allowing some 8 million people to enter our nation illegally over four years, has hardened Americans against immigration.

But he knows how frustrated most Americans have become about illegal immigration, fellow Latinos included. That said, critics of the Laken Riley Act do have a somewhat valid point. The bill makes no provision to free those arrested if charges are later dropped or otherwise deemed innocent of the crime.

In backing the Laken Riley Act, the Arizona senator said he's breaking with a party that's “largely out of touch with where your average Latino is.”