The House of Representatives passed the Laken Riley Act on Wednesday, sending the immigration-related bill to President Trump’s desk. It is likely to be his first legislative victory since returning to the White House this week.
The chamber approved the bill by a vote of 263 to 156. Forty-six Democrats, along with all Republicans present, voted for the bill. It was passed in the House of Representatives two days later The Senate approved the measure in a cross-party vote of 64 to 35.
Trump is expected to sign the measure, marking the first bill of his second administration on an issue – immigration and the border – that he and Republicans made a priority during the campaign.
“The Laken-Riley Act will now go to President Trump’s desk for him to sign into law,” said Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.). wrote on the social platform X after the vote. “Criminal illegal aliens must be arrested and deported and NEVER allowed to return to our country. The American people demand and deserve security.”
The White House has not announced whether there will be a signing ceremony for the bill; The president will leave for North Carolina on Friday.
The bill would require the detention of immense numbers of immigrants without legal status, including those allowed into the U.S. to seek asylum, if they are accused of theft, burglary or shoplifting.
It is named after Georgia nursing student Laken Riley, who was killed by a Venezuelan migrant who had been arrested on shoplifting charges before the attack after being released into the country on parole.
But the sweeping bill has alarmed critics who object to the provision, which requires a person to be detained only after they have been charged with a crime, rather than after they are convicted.
“Under this bill, a person who has lived in the United States for decades, say, most of his life, paid taxes and bought a home, but was falsely arrested for shoplifting, would not be free to resume his life, but rather would be detained and deported even if the charges are dropped,” said House Judiciary Committee member Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) as the House debated the bill for the first time earlier this month.
Passage in the House marks the culmination of a months-long push by Republicans to pass the bill. House Republican lawmakers first approved the bill in March, less than a month after Riley was killed. However, these efforts failed in the Democratic-controlled Senate.
The House reapproved the legislation earlier this month as the first bill of the 119th Congress. The newly formed GOP majority in the Senate quickly adopted its version of the bill, which had some technical differences from the House copy.
Senators also added two amendments to the bill: one from Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) that would add assault on a police officer to the list of offenses that would result in incarceration, and another from Sen. Joni Ernst (R -Iowa), known as “Sarah’s Law,” which would expand the bill to include the detention of undocumented immigrants charged with crimes involving death or stern bodily harm. The proposal was named after Sarah Root, who died in a car accident in 2016 involving a migrant who did not have legal status, posted bail and fled the United States
Twelve Democrats joined all Republicans in voting to pass the final measure in the Senate and sent it to the House for final passage.
By introducing the bill, Republicans managed to divide Democrats, who were still reeling from their defeat at the ballot box in November on one of Trump’s most significant issues. Republicans, including Trump, campaigned on immigration and the border, issues that several polls show were top of mind for voters throughout the campaign.
The president described Riley’s case as her death, especially during the campaign became a focal pointwith Republicans blaming the Biden administration’s immigration efforts.
When a Georgia judge sentenced Jose Ibarra, a 26-year-old Venezuelan migrant, to life in prison in November for killing Riley, Trump intervened and called the verdict “justice.”
“The illegal who killed our beloved Laken Riley has just been found GUILTY on all counts for his terrible crimes,” said the president, who won the election days earlier.
Another sign of how significant the issue of immigration is for the Republican Trump signed a number of executive orders On his first day in office, he imposed a series of recent restrictions at the border.
One is pausing its intake of refugees, while another is reinstating a program in which local law enforcement partners with immigration officials.
Another country declares a national emergency, paving the way for greater deployment of active-duty military along the southern border and devoting resources to building the border wall.
Additionally, he signed an order that views migration as an “invasion” and aims to end asylum processing by deeming migrants a threat to public health and national security.
Alex Gangitano contributed.
