On the first day of the 119th Congress, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Laken Riley Act to give local law enforcement and ICE more tools to fight illegal immigrants who commit crime in the United States. The bill, reintroduced by Rep. Mike Collins, R-GA, passed the House overwhelmingly, 264-159.
All nine Republican members of Georgia’s delegation supported the re-introduced bill Tuesday, along with Democrat Rep. Lucy McBath. The four remaining Democrats in the Georgia delegation voted “no” with most members of their party. McBath was among the lawmakers who switched from a “no” to a “yes.”
The bill passed the House last year with overwhelming bipartisan support before stalling in the Senate. With this new passage, it now goes back to the Senate and could be voted on this week. Many are watching to see how Georgia’s two Democratic Senators Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock will vote.
“Nearly one year ago, an illegal immigrant came across our border and killed Laken Riley. Today, House Republicans and Democrats joined together to ensure that no family has to go through the pain that Laken Riley’s has,” said Collins. “I hope to see the same level of bipartisan support for this bill in the Senate, and I urge my Senate counterparts to put this on President Trump’s desk and save lives.”
Collins went on to say: “The Laken Riley Act gives our law enforcement the tools they need to protect their communities and ensure that no more innocent lives are lost to a broken immigration and criminal justice system.”
The passage of this bill signals the GOPs intentions to deliver President-elect Donald Trump’s promises on immigration as soon as possible, including mass deportations and stricter border measures.
According to Collins, the Laken Riley Act does two things:
· It would amend federal law to require Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to issue detainers and take custody of illegal aliens who commit theft-related crimes, such as shoplifting, as defined by state and local law.
· It allows state attorneys general to sue the Secretary of Homeland Security for injunctive relief if immigration actions such as parole, violation of detention requirements, or other policy failures harm that state or its citizens.
Collins said the bill directly addresses one of the federal policy failures related to Laken Riley’s murder.
“Her murderer, Jose Ibarra, is an illegal alien who had been previously cited for shoplifting by the Athens Police Department. If local law enforcement had called ICE, and ICE issued a detainer and picked him up, Laken would be alive,” Collins said.
Ibarra was found guilty in November 2024 and has been sentenced to life without parole.
In the House on Tuesday, Republicans argued that if the law they were pushing had been in place, deaths like Riley’s would have been avoided. The Venezuelan was arrested shortly after Riley’s body was discovered. He had killed the student just after 9 a.m. on February 22, with blunt force trauma given as the cause of death.
