LANSING, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – By now, the headlines are tragically familiar. Another drunk-driving crash. Another innocent life lost. Another non-citizen suspect who, according to authorities, was in the U.S. illegally – and often had prior DUI arrests.

From California to Illinois to New York, stories keep piling up: families shattered, victims buried, and communities left asking the same uncomfortable question – why was this person still here?

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And yet, when Congress had a chance to do something about it, most Democrats, including several Michigan lawmakers said no thanks.

In June, the House passed H.R. 875, a bill that would make non-citizens convicted of DUI inadmissible and deportable. The logic is painfully simple: if you’re here illegally and repeatedly driving drunk, maybe you shouldn’t be here at all.

Even though the bill passed the House, voting no on the legislation were Democrats Debbie Dingell, Shri Thanedar and Rashida Tlaib. The bill now sits stalled in committee in the Senate, where Democrats have little interest in moving it forward. And while the politicians sit on their hands, the headlines about families killed by drunk drivers in the country illegally keep coming.

Michigan Democratic lawmakers had a chance to draw a clear line, saying that drunk driving is unacceptable, and immigration status shouldn’t be a shield from accountability. Instead, they blinked. And now their counterparts in the Senate appear to be doing the same.

And while Washington debates semantics, families across the country are left mourning loved ones who should still be here.