Washington The Laken Riley Act, a stringent immigration detention law named for a 22-year-old Georgia nursing school student who was slain by an undocumented immigrant last year, received final passage in the Republican-controlled House on Wednesday.
Upon his return to the White House this week, President Donald Trump is anticipated to sign the legislation, which aims to crack down on illegal immigrants who commit nonviolent offenses like theft.
46 Democrats joined all Republicans in supporting the legislation, which was approved by the House by a vote of 263-156. With 12 Democratic votes, the bill cleared the Senate on Monday by a vote of 64-35. Sens. Gary Peters (D-Mich.), Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), and Mark Warner (D-Va.) were among them; they are all up for reelection in 2026.
Riley was kidnapped, beaten, and killed by 26-year-old Jose Ibarra, a Venezuelan national who was in the country illegally, in November while she was jogging close to the University of Georgia campus in Athens. Ibarra received a life sentence without the possibility of release.
Trump and Republicans had brought up Ibarra’s shoplifting citation from a Georgia police station during the 2024 campaign trail, but Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not issue a detainer for him, and he was not arrested.
Rep. Mike Collins, R-Ga., wrote the Laken Riley Act, which would mandate that ICE detain and hold undocumented immigrants who are accused, detained, or found guilty of “burglary, theft, larceny, or shoplifting.”
48 Democrats voted in favor of an earlier version of the bill, which passed the House by a vote of 264-159. The plan was passed by the Republican-controlled House last year, but the Senate, which is dominated by Democrats, disregarded it, and President Joe Biden never stated if he supported it.
Before the vote, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., told reporters, “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.”
“An open border does not lead to an increase in the killing of innocent people. He continued, “President Trump has already started to reverse that open border.”
Two amendments, one from Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, which includes assault of a police officer, and another from Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, which includes acts that cause death or bodily harm to an individual, were adopted by the Senate to expand the list of actions that result in mandatory detention of undocumented migrants.
The Laken Riley Act’s passage coincides with a contentious discussion among Democrats over how to address Trump’s intentions for mass deportations and the immigration crisis following their crushing 2024 election loss.
Some Democrats have referred to the bill as an unfunded mandate that will cost billions of dollars, while pro-immigration activists have denounced it as a plan to undermine due process for migrants and upend the system. In an effort to demonstrate their support for rigorous immigration enforcement, several Democrats in states and districts with fierce competition backed it.
The issue’s politics have moved to the right. In the 2024 election, voters regarded immigration as their fourth-largest concern, according to NBC News exit surveys, and they chose Trump 89% to 9% against Democratic opponent Kamala Harris. According to exit polls, Trump also won Latino men by a landslide and made huge gains among Latino voters in general.
“Members will vote their districts,” House Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar, D-Calif., told reporters in response to the party’s division over the bill. Members must strike a balance between their duty to their citizens and their passion for this nation. We anticipate that they will do both while casting their votes.
Aguilar went on to say, “The Democratic Caucus believes in a safe and secure border,” “We support border security and a solution to our flawed immigration system. We also think it’s important to keep our neighborhoods secure.
The Laken Riley Act’s opponents were Democrats who claimed the law was overly harsh.
“Those who have committed small infractions are cuffed, arrested, and deported by Laken Riley. Rep. Adriano Espaillat, D-N.Y., the newly appointed chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, told NBC News that it is not a good thing in that regard.
“Any discussion that should be had here around the issue of border security, around the issue of immigration,” he stated, “should include something on Dreamers, farm workers and families.”
In an interview with NBC News, Jason Riley, the father of Laken Riley, expressed gratitude to the senators who backed the measure, saying he thought it had contributed to a political shift.
“I believe it worked out well,” he stated on Wednesday. He went on to say that he understood why her murder became so politically fraught, even if he detests that it became such a national topic and brought the family into the spotlight.
He stated, “We’re really pleased with how things have worked out.”