Topline
The House of Representatives passed the Republican-led Laken Riley Act—named for a 22-year-old college student who was murdered last February—on Wednesday, one day after the Senate approved it, setting it up to potentially be the first bill President Donald Trump signs into law in his second term in office.
Key Facts
The House passed the bill 263-156, with 46 Democrats crossing the party line to support it and all Republicans voting in its favor.
The legislation requires Immigration and Customs Enforcement to detain undocumented immigrants who have been charged with, arrested for or convicted of burglary, theft, larceny or shoplifting.
Amendments passed in the Senate added assault of a law enforcement officer and causing death or bodily injury to someone to the list of crimes that allow ICE to detain someone.
The bill passed the House in the last Congress, but was never taken up by the Democratic-controlled Senate, and former President Joe Biden did not signal whether he would have signed it.
Riley, a nursing student in Georgia, was murdered in February, and in November a 26-year-old undocumented immigrant was found guilty of her murder.
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Crucial Quote
“The American people spoke loud and clear in November demanding change—demanding border security and keeping American families safe,” Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., who sponsored the bill, said in a statement after it passed the House and Senate. “Working alongside President Trump, our Republican majorities are going to continue fighting to make America safe again and secure our border.”
Key Background
Jose Ibarra, a 26-year-old Venezuelan migrant, was found guilty of malice murder, felony murder, kidnapping with bodily injury and more by a judge in November, and he was sentenced to life in prison without parole. Riley was found dead near a lake at the University of Georgia on Feb. 22, 2024 after her friend reported she didn’t return from a run, and Ibarra was named a suspect the following day. He had illegally crossed the border and was arrested in September 2022, but was released while his case was pending. He was arrested again in 2023 in New York but was released. Riley’s death quickly became a way for the GOP to make immigration a political focal point last year, with Republicans—led by Trump—saying Riley’s death was because of the “Border INVASION (that) is destroying our country and killing our citizens.” After Ibarra was found guilty and sentenced, Trump said in a post on Truth Social “It is time to secure our Border, and remove these criminals and thugs from our Country, so nothing like this can happen again!”
Chief Critic
While 46 House Democrats voted in favor of the Laken Riley Act, most did not. Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., said in a statement on X he was going to vote no on the bill because it “denies due process, authorizing the mass detention of people who have been merely accused, not convicted, of even minor crimes,” and is “extreme overreach.” Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., said on X she was against the bill because it will separate families, increase racial profiling and “will empower Trump even further to unleash mass deportation on our communities.” Some Democrats didn’t vote for it because it expands the workload of ICE but does not grant more funding, NBC News reported.
What To Watch For
When Trump signs the bill into law. He has 10 days from its passage to sign it. Trump made immigration changes a key point of his campaigning, and he already signed a number of executive orders cracking down on immigration, but the president had not weighed in on the House passing it as of just before 6 p.m. EST on Wednesday.
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