OAN Staff Brooke Mallory
12:10pm – Thursday, January 23, 2025
The Laken Riley Act, an immigration detention measure named after Laken Riley, a 22-year-old Georgia nursing school student who was brutally murdered last year while trying to rape an undocumented immigrant from Venezuela, was passed by the Republican-led House of Representatives. enacted. on wednesday.
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President Donald Trump is expected to sign the bill into law this week after returning to the White House. The goal is to crack down on illegal immigrants who commit nonviolent crimes such as theft, and ultimately to stop violent and heinous crimes committed by illegal immigrants such as rape, assault, and murder.
All Republicans supported the motion, and 46 Democrats joined. The bill received 12 Democratic votes and was approved by the Senate on Monday in a 64-35 vote.
A 26-year-old illegal immigrant from Venezuela named Jose Ibarra was convicted in November of kidnapping, assaulting and killing Riley while she was on the run near the University of Georgia campus in Athens. Police said Riley's shirt was pulled up when her body was found, and it was clear she had attempted to sexually assault him.
He received a life sentence with no possibility of release.
Republicans and President Trump have emphasized that Ibarra was not arrested and that Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not detain him after he was taken into custody by Georgia police on shoplifting charges.
Rep. Mike Collins (R-Ga.) has proposed the Laken Riley Act, which would require ICE to detain and detain undocumented immigrants who have been charged, detained, or convicted of “robbery, theft, theft, or shoplifting.” was drafted.
“It's bittersweet,” Collins said after the vote, noting that she had spoken to Riley's relatives earlier in the day. “For a young woman who wanted to dedicate her career and life to saving lives, her name will live on forever and she will save lives.”
Forty-eight Democrats supported the earlier bill, which was approved in the House by a vote of 264-159. But former President Joe Biden never indicated whether he supported the bill, which passed last year in the Republican-controlled House but was ignored by the Democratic-led Senate.
“We have a willing partner in the Senate who wants to confront the real issues facing families to prevent more Laken Rileys,” said House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-Louisiana). Ta. “No more innocent people will be killed because of an open border. President Trump is already taking action to reverse open borders.”
Two amendments, one by Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) that includes assault on a police officer and one by Sen. Joni Ernst that includes acts that cause death or bodily harm to an individual. Both amendments were adopted by Congressman (R-Iowa). The Senate called for expanding the list of measures that lead to the forced detention of illegal aliens.
The passing of the Laken Riley Act coincides with debate within the Democratic Party over President Trump's intentions for mass deportations and how to deal with the immigration crisis after a landslide 2024 election loss.
Opponents of the Laken Riley Act were Democratic lawmakers who argued that the law was too harsh.
“Laken Riley casts a net to handcuff, arrest, and deport people who commit petty crimes. In that sense, this is not a good thing,” said the new chairman of the Hispanic Congressional Caucus. said Congressman Adriano Espaira (D.N.Y.).
He added: “The conversations we need to have here on border security and immigration should also include Dreamers, farmworkers and families.”
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