OAN Staff James Meyers
3:07 PM – Tuesday, January 7, 2025
On Tuesday afternoon, the Laken Riley Act was passed by the House of Representatives. It was the first piece of federal legislation approved by the new 119th Congress after the House agreed to its rules for the term.
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All Republicans supported the bill, along with 48 other Democrats. It passed on a 264 to 159 margin and will now be sent to the Senate.
The bill was named after 22-year-old Laken Riley. Riley was a nursing student that was brutally murdered by an illegal immigrant from Venezuela while she was jogging one morning on the University of Georgia’s campus.
The details of the bill would require federal immigration authorities to detain illegal aliens found guilty of burglary, theft, larceny, or shoplifting crimes. It would also allow states to sue the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for harm caused to their citizens due to illegal immigration, forcing the federal agency to take these matters more seriously.
The legislation breaks down what changes will occur.
“DHS must detain an individual who (1) is unlawfully present in the United States or did not possess the necessary documents when applying for admission; and (2) has been charged with, arrested for, convicted for, or admits to having committed acts that constitute the essential elements of burglary, theft, larceny, or shoplifting. The bill also authorizes state governments to sue for injunctive relief over certain immigration-related decisions or alleged failures by the federal government if the decision or failure caused the state or its residents harm, including financial harm of more than $100. Specifically, the state government may sue the federal government over a decision to release a non-U.S. national from custody; failure to fulfill requirements relating to inspecting individuals seeking admission into the United States, including requirements related to asylum interviews; failure to fulfill a requirement to stop issuing visas to nationals of a country that unreasonably denies or delays acceptance of nationals of that country; violation of limitations on immigration parole, such as the requirement that parole be granted only on a case-by-case basis; or failure to detain an individual who has been ordered removed from the United States.”
Jose Ibarra, who was sentenced to life in prison for Riley’s tragic murder, was previously arrested but was never detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, the agency previously admitted.
The passing of the new bill comes after it was first introduced last year by Representative Mike Collins (R-Ga.).
At the time, all of the “no” votes on the bill came from Democrat officials.
“I think they put politics ahead of principle. And we’re going to find out where they stand on this now,” said House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) in regards to the Democrats who opposed it last year.
“We have every intention of doing, really important, bipartisan work,” Johnson said hours before the vote on Tuesday. “We welcome with open arms any Democrat who wants to help us solve these problems because the American people demand and deserve it, it’s overdue. And, we’ll be looking for that and we’ll see how it shakes out.”
The Senate will vote on the bill this week.
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