House Approves Laken Riley Act, Marking Trump’s First Legislative Win – One America News Network
OAN Staff Brooke Mallory
12:10 PM – Thursday, January 23, 2025
The Laken Riley Act, an immigration detention initiative named in memory of 22-year-old Laken Riley, a nursing student from Georgia who was tragically murdered by a Venezuelan illegal immigrant last year during an assault, was passed by the Republican-led House on Wednesday.
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President Donald Trump is expected to sign this legislation into law upon his return to the White House. The Act aims to address the issue of illegal immigrants involved in serious crimes, including sexual assault and homicide, as well as lesser offenses such as theft.
The motion was supported unanimously by Republicans, with 46 Democrats also in favor. The Senate approved the bill on Monday with 12 Democratic votes, passing with a 64-35 majority.
Jose Ibarra, a 26-year-old illegal immigrant from Venezuela, was sentenced to life in prison without parole after being convicted in November of kidnapping, assaulting, and murdering Riley while she was jogging near the University of Georgia.
Republicans and Trump have highlighted that Ibarra was not arrested after being detained previously by a Georgia police department for shoplifting, nor did Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) issue a detainer.
Representative Mike Collins (R-Ga.) was the architect of the Laken Riley Act, which stipulates that ICE must detain and hold illegal immigrants who are accused, detained, or convicted of offenses such as “burglary, theft, larceny, or shoplifting.”
“It’s bittersweet,” Collins remarked after the vote, sharing that he had spoken with Riley’s family earlier. “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.”
A previous version of the bill gained support from 48 Democrats and passed the House with a vote of 264-159. However, former President Joe Biden did not make his stance clear on the bill, which was previously enacted by the GOP-controlled House but neglected 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.
The Senate adopted two amendments to broaden the mandatory detention criteria for illegal immigrants, one from Senator John Cornyn (R-Texas) which includes assaults on police officers, and another from Senator Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) covering actions resulting in death or harm to individuals.
The passage of the Laken Riley Act coincides with a heated debate among Democrats about addressing Trump’s intentions for mass deportations and tackling the immigration crisis following their significant defeat in the 2024 elections.
Opponents of the Laken Riley Act, predominantly from the Democratic Party, argue that the new law is excessively punitive.
“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,” commented Representative Adriano Espaillat (D-N.Y.), the newly appointed 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 continued, “should include something on Dreamers, farm workers, and families.”
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