The House voted on March 7 to pass the Laken Riley Act, which would require the Homeland Security secretary to detain illegal immigrants who have been charged in the United States with theft-related crimes.
The legislation puts a spotlight on the chaos surrounding the southern border, an issue of growing national concern.
The bill would require the Homeland Security chief to issue a detainer for any illegal immigrant charged with theft, burglary, larceny, or shoplifting if that person is “not otherwise detained by federal, state, or local officials.”
The legislation also allows state attorneys general or “other authorized state [officers],” to bring an action against the secretary if there’s a violation of “detention and removal requirements.”
If a state attorney general believes that an illegal immigrant was charged with theft and was not detained by federal authorities—and that detention violation harmed the residents of the attorney general’s state—he or she can bring action against the secretary and the U.S. Attorney General under the bill.
Among harms to the state and its residents, “financial harm in the excess of $100” is included.
The legislation was drafted after 26-year-old Jose Ibarra was charged with the murder of Laken Hope Riley, a 22-year-old nursing student at the University of Georgia.
Authorities allege that Mr. Ibarra attacked and killed Ms. Riley while she was on her morning run near the university on Feb. 22.
Mr. Ibarra was arrested after Ms. Riley’s body was found on running trails by campus police.
A friend reported her missing when she failed to show up for classes that day.
According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Mr. Ibarra entered the United States illegally in September 2022 near El Paso, Texas, after making his way to Mexico from his home country of Venezuela.
He was eventually released after his initial detention by border authorities.
Many Republicans were eager to push the issue ahead of President Joe Biden’s State of the Union Address on March 7.
Rep. Mike Collins (R-Ga.), the bill’s sponsor, is keeping his guest seat empty for President Biden’s speech in honor of Ms. Riley and any other “Americans who have lost their lives to an illegal alien criminal.”
The criticism continued after voting closed on March 7.
“Shame on them. Shame on them,” Rep. Troy Nehls (R-Texas) told The Epoch Times after he was asked about the Democrats who voted against the Laken Riley Act.
“I tell you, Joe Biden is getting beat. He’s getting beat. He better deliver a nice smooth speech tonight.”
Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-N.Y.) was also frustrated with the 170 Democrats who voted against the act.
“You know, they gotta be able to go back to their communities [and] explain why they keep protecting people who are here illegally that commit crimes,” she told The Epoch Times.
Ms. Malliotakis said she also expects President Biden to downplay illegal immigration during his State of the Union speech and say that the “border is secure.”
“But the American people know. They’re facing these realities every single day,“ she said. ”They’re seeing the devastating place where illegal immigrants are here, they’re committing crimes—fentanyl streaming over our border.
“They know it’s a result of Biden’s 60-plus policy changes. And they also know that he has the executive authority to fix it, just like he created it.”
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green (R-Ga.) said voting against the Laken Riley Act will “come back and haunt” Democrats in November.
“Georgia is a battleground state,“ she told The Epoch Times after the votes were tallied on March 7. ”And the murder of Laken Riley by that illegal alien, that monster that should have never been in our country, that is going to be a major, major issue that will turn voters in the state of Georgia.
“It already has.”
Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) made a speech on the House floor ahead of the vote on March 7, calling the bill and its approach “fundamentally unserious.”
“Rather than approaching this tragic event in a thoughtful manner, Republicans appear to have just thrown together language from existing, unrelated bills that target and scapegoat immigrants to score cheap political points in an election year while doing nothing to address the situation at the border,” Mr. Nadler said.
“Sadly, if these Democrats have their way, there will be more victims like Laken Riley.”
In an interview with NTD, The Epoch Times’ sister media outlet, Mr. Collins commended the Democrats who voted for the bill, saying they believed that it was a “good common sense piece of legislation.”
The bill condemns “the Biden administration for their lack of border policy and allowing people to flood across this border, including the guy that killed and murdered Laken Riley,” he said.
Mr. Collins also explained how the bill gives local officials the ability to contact U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) if a suspected illegal immigrant commits a theft-related crime.
“This fellow that murdered her had been cited three or four days earlier for shoplifting,“ he told NTD. ”And if we'd had this law passed back then, they could have contacted ICE, ICE could have come in and detained him, and deported this person. Thus, Laken Riley would be with us today.”
Mr. Collins said he hopes that President Biden will directly address Ms. Riley’s murder in his State of the Union speech and said Congress would continue its efforts with border security if the president fails to act.
“If you’re not going to secure the border, then we’re going to start doing things within our abilities in other areas, just like what we did today, to make sure that we can protect the American people,” he said.
