A Terrible, Right-Wing Voting Record

Joe Morelle calls himself a progressive Democrat, but his voting record tells a different story. Since joining Congress in 2018, he has sponsored exactly one piece of legislation that became law—a bill to rename a post office in Fairport after his predecessor, Louise Slaughter. Not a single substantive bill. Meanwhile, he voted twice for the Laken Riley Act, which mandates detention of immigrants based on accusations alone—a law a federal court has already ruled unconstitutional. He has voted to fund ICE with billions of dollars and no accountability, thanked the agency for its “service” while it tears families apart, and voted to honor a right-wing activist who called the Civil Rights Act a “huge mistake.” When confronted, Morelle says he “struggled” with these votes—and then casts them anyway. And after four decades on the public payroll, he voted to “denounce the horrors of socialism.”

Voted Twice for the Laken Riley Act

On January 7, 2025, Morelle was one of just 48 Democrats who voted for H.R. 29, the Laken Riley Act—the very first bill passed by the new Republican-controlled House. Two weeks later, on January 22, he voted for it again when the Senate version came back for final passage. Both times, the vast majority of Democrats voted no.

The law mandates detention of immigrants who are merely charged with—not convicted of—offenses as minor as shoplifting. It requires no individualized hearing, no judicial review, and no consideration of circumstances. A federal court has since declared detention under the Act unconstitutional, ruling that it violates due process. Civil rights organizations including the ACLU and Amnesty International condemned the law for exacerbating racial disparities, since Black and Brown people are arrested at disproportionately higher rates.

Morelle had voted against an earlier version of the same bill in March 2024. What changed? The updated text removed language criticizing the Biden administration—but the mandatory detention provisions remained identical. Morelle flipped his vote not because the bill got better, but because the political winds shifted.

Voted to Fund ICE Without Accountability

On March 6, 2024, Morelle voted for the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2024, an omnibus spending bill that provided approximately $9.6 billion in funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. In his press release touting the vote, Morelle made no mention of the ICE funding, instead highlighting investments in families, neighborhoods, and the military.

Voted to Thank ICE for Its “Service”

In June 2025, Morelle was one of 75 Democrats who voted for H.Res. 488, a resolution that expressed “gratitude” to ICE for “protecting the homeland.” The resolution was introduced by Republicans in the wake of a violent attack in Boulder, Colorado, but its real purpose was to force Democrats into a vote praising ICE at a time when the agency was tearing families apart across the country. A separate resolution condemning the antisemitic attack without the ICE language passed unanimously—making Morelle’s vote for the ICE version entirely unnecessary.

When pressed on the vote, Morelle briefly appeared on WXXI radio and said, “Honestly I struggled with it. I would not have written it that way.” He claimed he prioritized the antisemitism condemnation—but he could have done that without thanking ICE.

Voted to Lionize Charlie Kirk

On September 19, 2025, Morelle was one of 95 Democrats who voted for H.Res. 719, a resolution “honoring the life and legacy” of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. Kirk had called Martin Luther King Jr. “awful,” called the Civil Rights Act of 1964 a “huge mistake,” and was a vocal opponent of transgender rights. The resolution passed 310–58, with all 58 “no” votes coming from Democrats—mostly members of the Congressional Black Caucus and Congressional Hispanic Caucus—and another 38 Democrats voting “present.”

Morelle acknowledged on social media that Kirk’s rhetoric was “extremist, divisive, and often deeply harmful,” and that he did “not support language in this [resolution] that portrays Kirk as noble or patriotic.” Yet he voted for it anyway.

Voted to Condemn Socialism—After 40 Years on the Public Payroll

On November 21, 2025—weeks after democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani won the New York City mayoral race in a historic landslide—Morelle was one of 86 Democrats who joined Republicans in voting for H.Con.Res. 58, a resolution “denouncing the horrors of socialism.” The resolution passed 285–98, with 98 Democrats voting no.

The timing was not subtle. Republicans brought the resolution to the floor days after Mamdani’s victory, explicitly to force Democrats into a vote attacking the left wing of their own party. Morelle obliged.

The hypocrisy is hard to overstate. Joe Morelle has spent virtually his entire adult life on the public payroll—as a Monroe County Legislator, a New York State Assemblyman for nearly three decades, and now a member of Congress. He has drawn a government salary, government health insurance, and a government pension for over 40 years, all funded by taxpayers. The word for a system in which the government employs people, provides their health care, and guarantees their retirement is not capitalism. Yet here he is, voting to denounce socialism.

Voted to Expand ICE: The CORCA Vote

On May 12, 2026, Morelle voted Yes on H.R. 2853, the Combating Organized Retail Crime Act (CORCA). The bill passed under a motion to suspend the rules by a vote of 348–60. Fifty-nine House Democrats voted no, joined by a single Republican. Morelle was not among them.

Buried inside CORCA—past the headline language about shoplifting rings and supply-chain theft—is the provision that gives this vote its real weight. The bill creates a new, permanent Organized Retail and Supply Chain Crime Coordination Center inside Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) at the Department of Homeland Security. HSI is not a neutral law-enforcement agency. HSI is the investigative arm of Immigration and Customs Enforcement—the same ICE that has spent the last several years tearing immigrant families apart across this country.

In plain terms: Morelle voted to give ICE a new permanent federal coordination center, new statutory authority, and new dedicated funding streams—and to do it on a fast-track suspension vote that limits debate and rules out amendments.

Each ICE-related vote in Morelle’s record might be defended in isolation. The pattern is harder to explain away. He has voted to fund ICE with billions of dollars. He has voted to thank ICE for its “service.” And now he has voted to grow ICE’s investigative footprint with a new permanent center inside its Homeland Security Investigations directorate. A representative who genuinely opposed the Trump-era abuses by ICE would not vote, again and again, to expand its money, its mandate, and its institutional power.

Voted to Criminalize Charitable Bail Funds

On May 14, 2026, Morelle voted Yes on H.R. 6260, the “Keeping Violent Offenders Off Our Streets Act,” a Republican bill introduced by Rep. Scott Fitzgerald (R-WI). It passed 243–179. Just 32 Democrats voted for it; 178 voted no. Morelle sided with the Republican majority and against the overwhelming majority of his own party.

The bill is sold as a crackdown on “bail fraud,” but its actual mechanism is narrower and more revealing. It amends the federal insurance-fraud statute, 18 U.S.C. § 1033, to declare that any corporate, non-profit, or for-profit entity that posts bail on another person’s behalf is “engaged in the business of insurance.” That single redefinition sweeps community charitable bail funds—the nonprofits that post bail for people too poor to buy their own freedom—under a criminal statute written for the insurance industry, forcing them to answer to insurance regulators and exposing their staff and volunteers to new federal criminal liability.

Civil-rights and criminal-justice groups opposed the bill for exactly that reason. The Bail Project warned that it would “undermine bail reform efforts, expand wealth-based detention, and expose charitable bail organizations to new criminal liability,” and the Southern Poverty Law Center urged members to vote No. Critics call it what it is: a measure that criminalizes poverty-relief work and deepens a system in which freedom before trial depends on the size of your bank account. Most House Democrats listened. Morelle did not.

NoMoJoMo