OAN Staff Brooke Mallory
12:10 PM – Thursday, January 23, 2025
The Laken Riley Act, an immigration detention measure named after 22-year-old Georgia nursing school student Laken Riley, who was brutally murdered by an illegal alien from Venezuela last year after he attempted to rape her, was enacted by the Republican-led House on Wednesday.
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President Donald Trump is anticipated to sign the legislation into law this week after his return to the White House. Its goal is to crack down on illegal immigrants who commit nonviolent offenses such as theft, as well as ultimately inhibit violent and heinous crimes such as rape, assault, and murder.
All Republicans backed the motion, with 46 Democrats joining in. With 12 Democrat votes, the bill was approved by the Senate on Monday by a vote of 64-35.
A 26-year-old illegal alien from Venezuela named Jose Ibarra was convicted in November of kidnapping, assaulting, and murdering Riley as she was out on a run close to the University of Georgia campus in Athens.
He received a life sentence without the possibility of release.
Republicans and Trump have emphasized that Ibarra was not placed under arrest after being detained by a Georgia police department for shoplifting, in addition to Immigration and Customs Enforcement not issuing a detainer for him.
Representative Mike Collins (R-Ga.) drafted the Laken Riley Act, which would mandate that ICE detain and hold illegal immigrants who are accused, detained, or found guilty of “burglary, theft, larceny, or shoplifting.”
“It’s bittersweet,” Collins said following the vote, noting that he had spoken to Riley’s relatives earlier that day. “For a young lady that wanted to dedicate her career and her life to saving lives, now her name will live on forever, and it will save lives.”
48 Democrats supported a previous version of the bill, which was approved by the House by a vote of 264-159. However, former President Joe Biden never expressed whether he backed the bill, which was enacted by the GOP-controlled House last year but was disregarded by the Democrat-led Senate.
“You now have a willing partner in the Senate that actually wants to confront real problems facing families, so that you don’t have more Laken Rileys,” stated House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.). “You don’t have more murders of innocent people because of an open border. President Trump has already taken action to start reversing that open border,” he added.
Two amendments, one from Senator John Cornyn (R-Texas), which includes assault of a police officer, and another from Senator Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), which includes acts that cause death or bodily harm to an individual, were adopted by the Senate to expand the list of actions that result in mandatory detention of illegal aliens.
The Laken Riley Act’s passage coincides with a contentious discussion among Democrats over how to address Trump’s intentions for mass deportations and the immigration crisis following their crushing 2024 election loss.
The Laken Riley Act’s opponents were Democrats who claimed that the law was overly harsh.
“Laken Riley casts out a net to cuff, arrest, and deport people who have committed minor offenses. In that sense, it is not a good thing,” said Representative Adriano Espaillat (D-N.Y.), the new chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.
“Any discussion that should be had here around the issue of border security, around the issue of immigration,” he added, “should include something on Dreamers, farm workers, and families.”
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