How Ruben Gallego is Shaping the Democratic Party’s Approach to Immigration

Ruben Gallego didn’t run to be the next John McCain or Kyrsten Sinema — a new party-crossing maverick senator from Arizona.

But that’s exactly how he’s starting out.

Gallego’s Unconventional Support for GOP Immigration Bill

Just days into his Senate career, the Democrat threw his support behind the Laken Riley Act — lending crucial momentum to the GOP-authored immigration bill that would force the incarceration of many undocumented immigrants accused of crimes.

In an interview, Gallego said it could be just the first of many votes he takes with Republicans on immigration and border issues — the reason he believes Democrats lost so broadly in 2024.

Gallego’s Mission to Represent Working Class Latinos

“I’m bringing the perspective of working class Latinos from Arizona,” he said. “And that perspective, I think, has been missing.”

Handing President Donald Trump an early win on his signature issue is not where many Democrats expected the 45-year-old son of Mexican and Colombian immigrants to end up just two years ago, when he launched a challenge to Sinema. At the time, he lambasted the Democrat-turned-independent’s cross-aisle alliances that served to rein in his party’s legislative ambitions.

Challenges and Support for Gallego’s Stand

Gallego’s decision to back the GOP immigration bill, which passed the Senate Monday and could get to Trump’s desk later this week, raises the possibility that Minority Leader Chuck Schumer might have a fresh headache on his hands as he tries to maintain a united front against the unified Republican government.

Already House Republicans have sent another targeted immigration bill to the Senate, this one dealing with accused domestic abusers, hoping to exploit the split in the Democratic ranks. More piecemeal bills are expected to be on the way.

Gallego’s Transparency and Intentions

Gallego said he has zero intention of playing the role of problem child in the same way that Sinema or Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia did in previous Congresses. He said he gave Schumer a heads-up on his decision to support the bill, saying he intends to be “very transparent about where we’re going to be and why.”

The Laken Riley Act has been savaged on the left as a misguided and overbroad measure, with one prominent activist group calling its supporters “complicit in perpetuating Trump’s plans for mass cruelty and eroding trust in our nation as a place of refuge and opportunity.”

Only 11 of the 47 senators in the Democratic caucus joined Gallego in voting for final passage Monday. Many of the opponents represent states where immigration issues play much differently. (Arizona’s senior Democratic senator, Mark Kelly, supported it.) And they largely kept mum about the role he played in advancing it.

Gallego’s Advocacy and Representation

“There has been this misunderstanding about where Latinos are when it comes to border and border security,” he said. “I’m here to bring some more real truth about what people are thinking … and so people here and senators here aren’t necessarily reliant on these immigration groups that are, I think, a lot of times, largely out of touch with where your average Latino is.”

Gallego brings credibility to that fight. He eked out a two-point Senate victory in Arizona over Republican Kari Lake as Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris lost to Trump by six. But his tough-on-the-border campaign rhetoric represented a shift from how he got started in politics, as part of a group campaigning against an Arizona state law empowering police to check individuals’ immigration status.

Gallego’s Vision for the Democratic Party

He credits his win to understanding how Latino voters in his state — and broadly across the country — feel about border security and immigration. Now with Democrats doing some major soul-searching on what went wrong in 2024, he is explicitly arguing that his tough approach could help them find their way out of the political wilderness.

“I think that [the Trump campaign was] just closer to where people were,” he said. “Our campaign, I think the reason why we did as well as we did is because we nailed it exactly where we wanted.”

Gallego’s Impact on Bipartisanship

That’s music to the ears of Republicans. Sen. Katie Britt (R-Ala.), the Laken Riley Act’s lead sponsor, said she was “thrilled” to have Gallego on board with the bill she led through the Senate.

“That takes courage, and it also means you’re listening to the American people,” she said.

“You’re talking to a member who voted on a lot of bipartisan bills,” added Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C), who joined Democrats on recent bipartisan infrastructure and gun measures. “And now it’s time for people like Gallego to stand up and see if they’re committed to bipartisanship, and that’s a good first step.”

Gallego’s Forward-Looking Approach

Gallego wasn’t the first Democratic senator to back the Laken Riley Act, named after a Georgia nursing student murdered by an undocumented immigrant last year — that was Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.). But he was the first Latino to do so, and he is now speaking out not only about where his party should go but about where it has been.

“The position that some Democrats have taken in the past … is that there shouldn’t be limits on people crossing the border, that there shouldn’t be deportations, that there shouldn’t be restrictions for people that are causing problems, like the monster that killed Laken Riley,” he said.

His constituents feel differently: “They want more Border Patrol, they want more border investments and enforcement … and they also want immigration reform,” Gallego said

Gallego’s Political Identity and Policy Stance

Gallego isn’t ruling out working with Republicans on other issues on a case-by-case basis. But he also said doesn’t intend to follow in the footsteps of Sinema, who cultivated close ties with Republican colleagues and worked in tandem with Manchin to reduce and delay Democrats’ big spending plans under former President Joe Biden.

And don’t expect him to go taking Mar-a-Lago meetings with Trump, as Fetterman did last week.

“I’m not that kind of politician,” Gallego said. “Look, my relationship with the Trump administration is going to be around policy.”