After earlier Senate approval, the Laken Riley Act has now passed through the House of Representatives and is on its way to Donald Trump to be signed as law. It’s the first major legislative victory for the Trump Administration.
After the Republican Party retook control of both chambers in Congress and the White House, the Laken Riley Act will be the first law Donald Trump signs after he takes office.
The House of Representatives approved the bill by a vote of 263 to 156 on Wednesday. This is the second time this month that the lower chamber has advanced the bill.
The bill was passed by the House on January 7 with 264 votes to 159. The bill was supported by 48 Democrats and all voting Republicans, two more than in the previous vote.
The GOP-controlled Senate advanced the bill with a bipartisan vote of 64 to 35, but also added measures for deporting illegal immigrants who assault police officers or cause death or serious bodily injury to another person.
The Democrats voted against the bill in all of their votes:
The original bill directed Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers to detain suspected illegal immigrants who committed theft-related crimes. The bill would also allow the states to sue Homeland Security for any harm caused to citizens by illegal immigration.
Majority of Democrats opposed the bill. They argued that deporting people who have been accused of crimes but are not convicted is a slippery path. Supporters of the bill argue that those who are here illegally already have violated U.S. laws.
This argument is a sham; those who are in this country illegally already broke the law just by being there. The Laken Riley Act focuses also on illegal immigrants who have committed crimes beyond their illegal entry.
It was a bipartisan vote, as 48 Democrats voted with Republicans to pass this measure. This should (but likely won’t stop) any complaints about the partisanship of this Act. This Act was named after Georgia nursing student Laken R. Riley who was murdered by an illegal Venezuelan immigrant on the grounds of the University of Georgia. Jose Ibarra is currently serving a prison sentence of life for his crime. Ibarra was arrested by the Immigration and Customs Authority, but not detained. The Laken Riley Act was created to stop this type of incident from ever happening again.
The bill was passed by the GOP-controlled House of Representatives in early 2024, but it then went to the Senate where the then-Majority Leader Chuck Schumer(D-NY), let it die.
The Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee wasted little time to take to X-to-count coup. They deserve it.
When the Act lands on President Trump’s desk, it is expected that he will sign it.
