By Richard Cowan and Bo Erickson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -More than half the U.S. Senate's Democrats joined with Republicans on Thursday to advance a bill that would require the federal government to detain migrants living in the country illegally who are suspected of crimes, even if they are not charged.
The Republican-majority Senate voted 84-9 -- with 33 Democrats in favor -- to move towards debating the legislation, named the "Laken Riley Act" after a Georgia college student who was murdered last year by a Venezuelan man previously arrested for shoplifting.
The bill passed the House of Representatives on Tuesday by a vote of 264-159, with 48 Democrats supporting it.
The Senate vote comes just 11 days before the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump, who campaigned on a promise to crack down on illegal immigration and "migrant crime."
A range of studies by academics and think tanks have shown that immigrants do not commit crime at a higher rate than native-born Americans.
But the qualified Democratic support of the bill, with some members saying they were ready to open debate on it but not necessarily in support of passing it, is an illustration of the effect Trump has had in focusing Americans' attention on the subject.
A December Reuters/Ipsos poll found that Americans ranked immigration as the top issue they wanted Trump to address in his first 100 days in office, with respondents overall favoring Republicans' approach to the issue over Democrats' by 42%-22%.
Ahead of the vote, Republican Senator Katie Britt argued if Riley's killer was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement after his arrest for shoplifting -- as this new bill would ensure -- Riley's family would be celebrating her 23rd birthday on Friday, Jan. 10, instead of the first anniversary of her murder.
Top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer voted in favor, as did several other Democrats in competitive states, including Senators John Fetterman and Ruben Gallego, who have both signed on as cosponsors, and Senator Mark Kelly.
Thursday's vote does not necessarily mean the controversial bill will have enough votes to pass. Leading Democrats are expected to insist on amendments to achieve broader immigration reforms.
"If we get on the bill, Democrats want to have a robust debate where we can offer amendments and approve the bill," Schumer said on the Senate floor ahead of the Thursday vote.
Many of the Democrats who supported the bill hailed from states that Trump won in the November, including Senators Gary Peters and Elissa Slotkin of Michigan and Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff of Georgia. Peters and Ossoff are among the one-third of the senators up for reelection next year.
Many Democrats see it as a back-door way for racial profiling by law enforcement and trampling on constitutional protections.
"This bill ends due process for immigrants, including DACA recipients," said Democratic Representative Veronica Escobar, referring to Washington's Deferred Action (WA:ACT) for Childhood Arrivals program that shields young undocumented immigrants brought across U.S. borders by parents or other adults.
Trump has used harsh terms when describing immigrants in the United States illegally or awaiting asylum hearings, calling them "animals" when talking about alleged criminal acts.