House passes Laken Riley Act, which heads to Senate with increasing Democratic support

The new Republican-controlled House of Representatives passed its first bill Tuesday, the Laken Riley Act, named for the 22-year-old Georgia nursing school student killed by a Venezuelan immigrant living in the country without legal permission.

Laken Riley’s murder became a rallying cry for Republicans during the 2024 presidential campaign, and President-elect Donald Trump brought up the case repeatedly as he called for better border security.

The Laken Riley Act was passed on a 264-159 vote, with 48 House Democrats joining the Republican majority. The bill will now move to the Republican-controlled Senate, which will take the measure up on Friday.

All 52 Senate Republicans and Democratic Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania are co-sponsors of the bill. But Republicans need seven more Democratic votes to overcome a filibuster and begin debate of the bill in the Senate.

Civil and immigrant rights organizations have said the act could pose a threat to civil liberties and could lead to increased racial profiling. Supporters of the bill say that it will make the U.S. safer and that if it had been law in 2024, it may have saved Riley's life.

What is the Laken Riley Act?

Written by Rep. Mike Collins of Georgia, the bill would require U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to take custody of immigrants in the United States illegally who commit theft-related crimes like shoplifting.

The act also includes a provision allowing state attorneys who consider their state or its residents harmed by immigration policies to sue the Department of Homeland Security.

Who is Laken Riley?

Riley, 22, was studying nursing at Augusta University in Athens when she went for a run on the morning of Feb. 22, 2024, on the University of Georgia campus.

Prosecutors said Jose Antonio Ibarra, 26, intended to rape Riley when he attacked her on the intramural fields complex and bludgeoned her with a rock. Ibarra was arrested in a nearby apartment building the next day.

Ibarra, who entered the U.S. illegally in September 2022, was convicted of all charges, which include murder, aggravated assault with attempt to rape, kidnapping and tampering with evidence.

Ibarra was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

In his campaign for the White House, Trump and his Republican allies turned the case into an indictment of President Joe Biden's immigration policies, stoking fears of rampant crime by foreigners streaming into the U.S. unlawfully.

What do opponents and supporters of the bill say?

On Tuesday, the American Civil Liberties Union said in a statement that passage of the bill could threaten civil liberties.

“This is the first immigration bill of the new Congress, and if passed, it will strengthen President-elect Trump’s hand in unleashing mass deportations on our communities,” said Sarah Mehta, ACLU's senior border policy counsel. “It will force immigration authorities to detain individuals accused of nonviolent theft offenses like shoplifting regardless of whether or not law enforcement even deems them as a threat.”

The ACLU also sent a letter to Congress on Monday urging lawmakers to vote against the bill.

“It is a slippery slope to start with the mandatory, prolonged detention of our longtime residents who have been accused of, though perhaps not even charged with, criminal offenses ? sometimes decades-old charges,” the letter said.

Supporters of the bill say that if it had been in law in 2024, Riley might still be alive today.

"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," House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana said in a statement. "If local law enforcement had called ICE, and ICE issued a detainer and picked him up, Laken would be alive."

Senate Democrats begin to show their support

After the bill passed in the House of Representatives, Senate Democrats have begun to express their support for the measure, increasing the likelihood of it reaching the president's desk.

Freshman Democratic Sen. Ruben Gallego of Arizona expressed his support for the act Wednesday in a post on social media.

“Arizonans know better than most the real consequences of today’s border crisis. We must give law enforcement the means to take action to prevent tragedies like what occurred to Laken Riley,” Gallego said.

Other Democrats have expressed their support for the bill, with spokespeople for Sens. Mark Kelly of Arizona and Gary Peters of Michigan confirming their support to USA TODAY.

Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff told CNN he would vote to advance debate of the bill in the Senate. A spokesperson for Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine said the senator was still "reviewing the legislation."

Delaware Sen. Chris Coons said he "supports proceeding with the Laken Riley Act but has concerns with the bill that he hopes will be addressed during a robust amendment process," a spokesperson said.

(This story was updated because an earlier version included an inaccuracy.)

Contributing: Jorge L. Ortiz and Jeanine Santucci

Fernando Cervantes Jr. is a trending news reporter for USA TODAY. Reach him at [email protected] and follow him on X @fern_cerv_.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: What is the Laken Riley Act? What to know as bill heads to the Senate