House Passes Laken Riley Act, First Bill Headed to Trump’s Desk

The U.S. Capitol building on the Opening Day of the 119th Congress on Jan. 3, 2025. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times

The House on Jan. 22 passed the Laken Riley Act, a bill that would increase the detention of illegal immigrants in the United States.

This is the first bill going to President Donald Trump for his signature into law. Trump has spoken favorably of the Laken Riley Act and is expected to sign it.

The act is named for the late Laken Hope Riley, a 22-year-old nursing student at Augusta University in Georgia who was murdered by José Antonio Ibarra, a Venezuelan national, on the University of Georgia campus on Feb. 22, 2024.

Ibarra, who illegally entered the United States in September 2022, was convicted of felony murder and seven other criminal counts after a bench trial in the Athens-Clarke County Superior Court on Nov. 20, 2024.

Riley’s murder was highlighted during the 2024 presidential election by Trump and other Republican candidates. They pledged to enact border security measures in contrast with the Biden administration.

Rep. Mike Collins (R-Ga.) introduced the bill to require the detention of illegal immigrants like Ibarra. Republicans say they believe that such a law would have prevented Riley’s murder.

“The Laken Riley Act is a bipartisan bill that solves a bipartisan problem. It’s common sense that we remove criminals who have come into our country and commit crimes. No elected official who cares about the safety of their citizens should be opposed,” Collins told The Epoch Times.

In the 118th Congress, the House passed a version of the Laken Riley Act with bipartisan support, although the Democratic-led Senate did not consider it. Once the 119th Congress was seated, Collins reintroduced the bill, which passed the House by a vote of 264–159 on Jan. 7.

However, the Senate passed a separate version of the bill on Jan. 20 with amendments, which the House approved on Jan. 22.

The bill would require the federal government to detain any foreign national who is charged with “burglary, theft, larceny, shoplifting, or assault of a law enforcement officer offense, or any crime that results in death or serious bodily injury to another person.”

In many state and local jurisdictions, some of these offenses are misdemeanors that don’t require the pre-trial detention of offenders. The bill’s text does not make distinctions between foreign nationals who entered the country lawfully and illegal immigrants.

Crucially, the bill also empowers state attorneys general to sue the federal government if such detentions are not conducted and the illegal immigrant “harms” the state as a result.

During the Biden administration, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, in 2021, issued a memorandum excluding certain illegal immigrants from detentions for committing nonviolent offenses.

If countries refuse to accept the return of illegal immigrants who are removed from the United States, the bill allows state attorneys general to sue to enforce requirements that the State Department refuse to issue visas in those countries or to their nationals.

The bill passed the House by a vote of 263–156, with bipartisan support as several dozen Democrats voted for it. In the Senate, it passed 64–35, with 12 Democratic senators voting in favor. The Democratic senators’ support was critical to invoke cloture and overcome the filibuster.

“These are complicated issues. ... My belief is that [DACA] individuals could get swept up ... and deported as a result of this bill,” Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.), chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, told The Epoch Times on Jan. 22 during a press conference.

He referred to beneficiaries of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, who entered the U.S. unlawfully as children and have lived most of their lives in the United States.

When asked about the split among Democrats on the bill, Aguilar replied, “We’re going to continue to vote our districts.”

“The American people are ready for secure borders and safe communities. The Laken Riley Act is a targeted piece of legislation that goes directly to the heart of her tragic death,” wrote Sen. Katie Boyd Britt (R-Ala.), who sponsored the bill that the House passed.

Britt, the youngest Republican woman in the Senate, has become a spokesperson for the bill, which the GOP has said will protect young women in the United States from rape, assault, and murder by illegal immigrants.

“Passing the Laken Riley Act would prevent other families from experiencing the unimaginable pain Laken’s family is living through,” Britt wrote on social media platform X.

Nathan Worcester contributed to this report.