(Daily Caller News Foundation) — The House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed legislation Tuesday to require federal immigration authorities to detain illegal migrants who commit theft-related crimes in the United States.
The legislation passed decisively 264-159 with every Republican lawmaker that voted supporting the bill, which would give Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and state governments more authority to curtail illegal immigration. Nearly 160 Democratic lawmakers opposed the bill’s passage.
NEW: In one of her first votes in Congress, Minnesota Congresswoman Kelly Morrison voted against the Laken Riley Act, which would require the detention of illegal immigrants who commit theft-related crimes.
It's named after Laken Riley, a 22-year-old nursing student who was… pic.twitter.com/lbYSgCALGE
— Anthony Gockowski (@AntGockowski) January 7, 2025
The bill, known as the Laken Riley Act, is sponsored by Georgia Republican Rep. Mike Collins and seeks to honor the memory of Laken Riley, a University of Georgia nursing student who was murdered by an illegal immigrant while out on a run near her college campus in February 2024.
“An illegal criminal came into my district and killed Laken Riley because our law enforcement did not have the tools to stop him,” Collins told the Daily Caller News Foundation Monday. “Laken fought until her last breath, and so will I until this bill crosses the finish line and lands on the President’s desk.”
Speaker Mike Johnson’s decision to make the Laken Riley Act the first bill the House voted on during the 119th Congress signals addressing border security and cracking down on illegal immigration will be a top priority for House Republicans this year.
The Laken Riley Act seeks to address a policy failure regarding ICE and local law enforcement’s failure to detain illegal migrant criminals who commit low-level crimes that became glaringly obvious to lawmakers in the wake of Riley’s murder, Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters during a House GOP press conference Tuesday.
“There are real consequences to policy decisions, and this one was deadly,” Johnson told reporters.
Riley’s killer, Venezuelan national Jose Antonio Ibarra, had a criminal record in the United States prior to murdering Riley. Ibarra was arrested in October 2022 for allegedly shoplifting at a Walmart in Athens, Georgia, but was ultimately released because the shoplifting charge was a misdemeanor.
If the Laken Riley Act passes the Senate and is signed into law by President-elect Donald Trump, ICE would be required to detain illegal migrants like Ibarra who commit theft-related crimes in the United States, according to the bill text.
“Right now, ICE is unable to detain and deport these illegal criminals who commit these minor level crimes, but the Laken Riley Act will fix this and give ICE and our local law enforcement the tools to get these criminals out of our country and make our communities safer,” Collins said during floor debate on the bill.
“With Joe Biden, Chuck Schumer and the party of lawlessness out of the way, the radical left’s mission to enable criminal illegal aliens … at the expense of law-abiding Americans is no longer going to be tolerated,” Republican Minnesota Rep. Tom Emmer, House majority whip, said during a House GOP leadership press conference on the Laken Riley Act Tuesday. “The tragic and preventable murder of Laken Riley serves as a stark reminder of the consequences of failed leadership.”
Many House Democratic lawmakers, led by Maryland Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin, ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, slammed the bill for expanding the number of illegal migrants in the United States that are required to be detained by ICE, and voiced concern that the bill’s passage would lead to illegal migrants who are wrongly accused of theft-related crimes being detained by federal immigration authorities.
“Their bill [Laken Riley Act] today is an empty and opportunistic measure,” Raskin said during floor debate on the bill. “This is a radical departure from current law, which since 1996 has generally required mandatory detention only for persons who are criminally convicted or who admit to having committed certain serious crimes.”
The Laken Riley Act was notably backed by Riley’s family who believe the bill’s passage will prevent the deaths of additional Americans at the hands of illegal migrants.
“The Laken Riley Act has our full support because it would help save innocent lives and prevent more families from going through the kind of heartbreak we’ve experienced,” Allyson and John Phillips, Laken Riley’s mother and stepfather, told the DCNF. “Laken would have been 23 on January 10th. There is no greater gift that could be given to her and our country than to continue her legacy by saving lives through this bill.”
“Every single member of Congress should be able to get behind this purely commonsense bill that will make our country and communities safer,” Riley’s mother and stepfather added. “We thank Congressman Mike Collins, Senator Katie Britt, and Senator Ted Budd for continuing to work to honor Laken’s legacy and get this legislation enacted into law.”
Republican Alabama Sen. Katie Britt introduced companion legislation in the Senate Tuesday with every Senate Republican supporting the bill’s passage and Democratic Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman signing on as a cosponsor. The Senate is slated to vote on the legislation as early as Friday, a senior GOP aide told the DCNF.
“Congress has an obligation to Laken, her family, and to families in every corner of our country to do everything in our power to help prevent this type of tragedy from occurring again,” Britt told the DCNF. “That’s why it’s imperative we pass the commonsense Laken Riley Act with all due haste.”
Collins originally introduced the Laken Riley Act in the House last Congress following Riley’s murder. The House passed Collins’ legislation in March 2024 with most House Democrats—170 Democratic lawmakers in total—opposing the legislation.
Former Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer did not formally move to take up the legislation, forcing Collins to reintroduce his bill in the 119th Congress, which began Friday.
This article was originally published by the Daily Caller News Foundation.
