The US House of Representatives, led by the GOP, has passed the “Laken Riley Act” again. The act mandates the arrest of undocumented immigrants charged with theft-related crimes in the country. The proposed law gained support from both parties, with forty-eight Democrats aligning with 216 Republicans in favor of the bill. In contrast, 159 Democrats voted against it.
The bill’s namesake, Laken Riley, was a 22-year-old nursing student from Georgia who lost her life to violence last year. Jose Ibarra, a 26-year-old undocumented immigrant from Venezuela, was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment for Riley’s murder.
The policy targets not only migrants charged with theft crimes. It would also permit states to sue federal officials for “injunctive relief” if specific immigration actions or policies harm their citizens. Speaking about the bill that seeks to rectify the policy failings that led to Riley’s death, Rep. Mike Collins (R-GA) emphasized that if local law enforcement previously charged Ibarra for shoplifting had contacted ICE, and subsequently, if ICE had acted upon it, Riley might still be alive.
The bill, not taken up for a vote by the Democrat-led Senate last year, has been reintroduced and now has bipartisan support within newly Republican-controlled Senate.