Georgia’s state legislature has approved tougher immigration enforcement legislation following the brutal beating death of nursing student Laken Riley, allegedly by a Venezuelan immigrant.
The bill currently only requires Republican Gov. Brian Kemp to sign it into law. CNN reported.
“While Joe Biden and his liberal allies refuse to protect our citizens and secure our southern border, Georgia Senate Republicans are passing legislation to protect the state from criminal illegal immigration.” List of Peach State Republican senators At X.
“Let me be clear: Sanctuary cities will not be tolerated in Georgia,” the post said.
Thursday’s state action comes after the Republican-led U.S. House of Representatives approved the federal Laken-Riley Act on March 7, but the bill has since stalled in the Democratic-controlled Senate. There is.
The federal measure would require immigration enforcement agents to arrest immigrants who enter the country illegally and deport them if they commit a crime.
Asylum seekers would also have to wait for their immigration hearings on the Mexican side of the U.S. southern border, rather than at home, where thousands of people have gathered in “asylum cities” like New York.
A Georgia bill expected to be supported by Kemp would require state and local law enforcement agencies to verify the immigration status of immigrants 18 and older who are arrested or detained, or if they are It is required to confirm whether there is “reasonable reason to believe”. I committed a crime.
Both bills were enacted in response to Riley’s brutal murder on the University of Georgia campus.
On February 22, the 22-year-old nursing student was out for a run when she was attacked and severely assaulted, and her body was left on a wooded path on campus, police said.
Jose Antonio Ibarra, 26, who entered the country illegally, was later arrested and charged with murder in the horrific attack, immigration authorities said.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement said Ybarra entered El Paso, Texas, in September 2022, then briefly lived in New York City before moving with his brother in Georgia.
Riley studied at the University of Georgia before transferring to nearby Augusta University.
The state bill was introduced in the wake of a high-profile case.
After passing the state Senate 34-19 earlier this month, the state House passed the bill 99-75 Thursday, sending it to the governor’s desk.
One state Senate Democrat who voted against the bill called it a “xenophobic bill.”
“This bill would result in racial profiling of immigrant communities, not make Georgians safer,” the senators said. Nabila Islam Parks wrote about X. “I will always fight to protect immigrant communities.”
.
