Nearly all House Democrats voted against a bill to ensure migrants can be deported for harming animals used by law enforcement officials.
The bill, known as the Bill to Outlaw Wounding of Official Working Animals Act (BOWOW Act) passed in a 228-190 vote, the Hill reported.
While Republicans, along with 15 Democrats, voted in favor of the bill, 190 Democrats opposed the bill.
Under the BOWOW Act, a non-citizen of the United States who is “convicted of, or who admits to having committed, an offense related to harming animals used in law enforcement is inadmissible and deportable.”
In a post on X, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) expressed that the Democratic Party was now “the party of PUNCHING PUPPIES” after 190 Democrats opposed the bill.
“The Democrats just decided to officially become the party of PUNCHING PUPPIES,” Johnson wrote. “190 Democrats just voted to give illegal immigrants the RIGHT TO PHYSICALLY ABUSE American service dogs — serving with law enforcement protecting American citizens.”
“The level Democrats will go to protect illegal aliens instead of Americans is disturbing, disgusting, and dangerous,” Johnson added.
White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy and Homeland Security Advisor Stephen Miller stated that it was “truly sickening.”
“Harming a law enforcement working animal is appalling and evil,” Rep. Mike Simpson (R-ID) wrote in a post on X. “As a dog lover and someone who adamantly supports the working dogs who have served on the front lines, voting in favor of this bill was one of the easiest decisions of my congressional career.”
The bill, which was introduced by Rep. Ken Calvert (R-CA), comes after an Egyptian national kicked and injured a dog used by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
Breitbart News’s Paul Bois reported in June 2025, that the man, Hamed Ramadan Bayoumy Aly Marie, 70, pled guilty after he kicked a beagle called Freddie, after the dog “alerted agents to potential contraband” in his bag.
The incident took place at Washington Dulles International Airport, and a veterinarian later found that Freddie, who was five years old, “suffered contusions to his right forward rib area,” according to a press release from CBP.
