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House Lawmakers Overwhelmingly Pass Legislation To Crack Down On Illegal Migrant Criminals

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The House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed legislation Tuesday to require federal immigration authorities to detain illegal migrants who commit theft-related crimes in the United States.

The legislation passed decisively 264-159 with every Republican lawmaker that voted supporting the bill, which would give Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and state governments more authority to curtail illegal immigration. Nearly 160 Democratic lawmakers opposed the bill’s passage.

The bill, known as the Laken Riley Act, is sponsored by Georgia Republican Rep. Mike Collins and seeks to honor the memory of Laken Riley, a University of Georgia nursing student who was murdered by an illegal immigrant while out on a run near her college campus in February 2024.

“An illegal criminal came into my district and killed Laken Riley because our law enforcement did not have the tools to stop him,” Collins told the Daily Caller News Foundation Monday. “Laken fought until her last breath, and so will I until this bill crosses the finish line and lands on the President’s desk.”

Speaker Mike Johnson’s decision to make the Laken Riley Act the first bill the House voted on during the 119th Congress signals addressing border security and cracking down on illegal immigration will be a top priority for House Republicans this year.

The Laken Riley Act seeks to address a policy failure regarding ICE and local law enforcement’s failure to detain illegal migrant criminals that commit low-level crimes that became glaringly obvious to lawmakers in the wake of Riley’s murder, Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters during a House GOP press conference Tuesday.

“There are real consequences to policy decisions, and this one was deadly,” Johnson told reporters.”

Riley’s killer, Venezuelan national Jose Antonio Ibarra, had a criminal record in the United States prior to murdering Riley. Ibarra was arrested in October 2022 for allegedly shoplifting at a Walmart in Athens, Georgia, but was ultimately released because the shoplifting charge was a misdemeanor.

If the Laken Riley Act passes the Senate and is signed into law by President-elect Donald Trump, ICE would be required to detain illegal migrants like Ibarra who commit theft-related crimes in the United States, according to the bill text.

“Right now, ICE is unable to detain and deport these illegal criminals who commit these minor level crimes, but the Laken Riley Act will fix this and give ICE and our local law enforcement the tools to get these criminals out of our country and make our communities safer,” Collins said during floor debate on the bill.

“With Joe Biden, Chuck Schumer and the party of lawlessness out of the way, the radical left’s mission to enable criminal illegal aliens…at the expense of law-abiding Americans is no longer going to be tolerated,” Republican Minnesota Rep. Tom Emmer, House Majority whip, said during a House GOP leadership press conference on the Laken Riley Act Tuesday. “The tragic and preventable murder of Laken Riley serves as a stark reminder of the consequences of failed leadership.”

Many House Democratic lawmakers, led by Maryland Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin, ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, slammed the bill for expanding the number of illegal migrants in the United States that could be required to be detained by ICE, and voiced concern that the bill’s passage would lead to illegal migrants who are wrongly accused of theft-related crimes being detained by federal immigration authorities.

“Their bill [Laken Riley Act] today is an empty and opportunistic measure,”  said during floor debate on the bill. “This is a radical departure from current law, which since 1996 has generally required mandatory detention only for persons who are criminally convicted or who admit to having committed certain serious crimes.”

The Laken Riley Act was notably backed by Riley’s family who believe the bill’s passage will prevent the deaths of additional Americans at the hands of illegal migrants.

“The Laken Riley Act has our full support because it would help save innocent lives and prevent more families from going through the kind of heartbreak we’ve experienced,” Allyson and John Phillips, Laken Riley’s mother and stepfather, told the DCNF. “Laken would have been 23 on January 10th.  There is no greater gift that could be given to her and our country than to continue her legacy by saving lives through this bill.”

“Every single member of Congress should be able to get behind this purely commonsense bill that will make our country and communities safer,” Riley’s mother and stepfather added. “We thank Congressman Mike Collins, Senator Katie Britt, and Senator Ted Budd for continuing to work to honor Laken’s legacy and get this legislation enacted into law.”

Republican Alabama Sen. Katie Britt introduced companion legislation in the Senate Tuesday with every Senate Republican supporting the bill’s passage and Democratic Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman signing on as a cosponsor. The Senate is slated to vote on the legislation as early as Friday, a senior GOP aide told the DCNF.

“Congress has an obligation to Laken, her family, and to families in every corner of our country to do everything in our power to help prevent this type of tragedy from occurring again,” Britt told the DCNF. “That’s why it’s imperative we pass the commonsense Laken Riley Act with all due haste.”

Collins originally introduced the Laken Riley Act in the House last Congress following Riley’s murder. The House passed Collins’ legislation in March 2024 with most House Democrats — 170 Democratic lawmakers in total — opposing the legislation.

Former Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer did not formally move to take up the legislation, forcing Collins to reintroduce his bill in the 119th Congress, which began Friday.

AUTHOR

Adam Pack

Contributor.

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EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

John Thune Reveals Why He’s Having Senate Take Up One Bill In Particular As Its First Order Of Business

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Senate Majority Leader John Thune revealed to the Daily Caller News Foundation Monday that the Senate has chosen to crack down on illegal migrant criminals as its first order of business due to an “urgent need” for action amid the Biden-Harris border crisis.

“Laken Riley’s horrific murder at the hands of an illegal alien should have never happened,” Thune told the DCNF. “There is an urgent need to take action regarding the border crisis to protect the American people, which is why I chose this as the first bill [Laken Riley Act] the Senate will vote on this Congress.”

The Senate will likely vote on the legislation as early as this Friday, the DCNF has learned.

The House of Representatives is also slated to vote this week on companion legislation sponsored by Georgia Republican Rep. Mike Collins that would also target illegal migrants who commit theft-related crimes.

“An illegal criminal came into my district and killed Laken Riley because our law enforcement did not have the tools to stop him,” Collins told the DCNF. “Laken fought until her last breath, and so will I until this bill crosses the finish line and lands on the President’s desk.”

The bills seek to honor the memory of Laken Riley, a University of Georgia nursing student who was murdered by an illegal migrant while out on a run near her college campus in February 2024. Riley’s killer, Venezuelan national Jose Antonio Ibarra, had a criminal record in the United States prior to killing Riley and was convicted of murdering the 22 year-old college student in November 2024.

Ibarra and his brother were previously arrested in October 2022 for allegedly shoplifting at a Walmart in Athens, Georgia, but were ultimately released because the shoplifting charge was a misdemeanor.

If the legislation up for consideration in the House and Senate passes both chambers and is signed into law by President-elect Donald Trump, federal immigration authorities would be required to detain illegal migrants like Ibarra who commit theft-related crimes in the United States.

The Trump-Vance transition team did not immediately respond to the DCNF’s inquiry about whether Trump would sign the legislation cracking down on illegal migrant criminals into law.

AUTHOR

Adam Pack

Contributor.

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EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

Houses Passes ‘Laken Riley Act’ To Crack Down On Illegal Immigrant Criminals

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The House passed a bill Thursday that would target illegal migrants in the U.S. who have committed certain crimes, naming the legislation in memory of the late nursing student Laken Hope Riley.

Riley, aged 22, was killed on Feb. 22 after being allegedly attacked while running in a forested area near the University of Georgia (UGA) in Athens, Georgia, with the suspect arrested and charged with her murder, Jose Antonio Ibarra, being a Venezuelan national who allegedly entered the United States illegally and was released after being initially detained. The Laken Riley Act would require the federal government to detain foreign nationals who commit “burglary, theft, larceny, or [a] shoplifting offense” as well as grant states to sue the federal government for non-enforcement of certain aspects of immigration law, and passed the House by a vote of 251 yeas to 170 nays.

“It that should pass the Senate. That doesn’t mean it will or it would, but it should. This is common sense legislation. This is good legislation, and this can help our local law enforcement so I would hope that the Senate would look at it from that standpoint,” Republican Rep. Mike Collins of Georgia, the bill’s sponsor, who represents the district where Riley died, told the DCNF. “There’s nothing wrong with this bill. There’s nothing I could see that they could point at and say ‘That’s wrong,’ with this bill. And if we can pass this, we should pass it. It’s got a good chance of helping save a life.”

H.R. 7511, Laken Riley Act by Daily Caller News Foundation on Scribd

“Laken Riley is not here with us anymore because of Biden’s failed policies. It’s about border security more than immigration. So, we need to look at what can we do if he is not going to secure the border,” Republican Rep. Barry Loudermilk of Georgia told the DCNF. “Her murderer was arrested in New York City weeks before and was released. Why shouldn’t he have been deported at that moment, by committing a crime?”

“Jose Ibarra, a 26-year-old citizen of Venezuela, was arrested by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) on Sept. 8, 2022, after unlawfully entering the United States near El Paso, Texas. He was paroled and released for further processing,” ICE spokesperson Lindsay Williams told the DCNF. “On Aug. 31, 2023, Ibarra was arrested by the New York Police Department and charged with acting in a manner to injure a child less than 17 and a motor vehicle license violation. He was released by the NYPD before a detainer could be issued,” Williams added.

The bill was passed shortly before Biden visited the U.S. Capitol to deliver the annual State of the Union address.

“This is a young lady who was just…with everything that we’ve learned about her, [she] just had a great future, a wonderful young lady who was dedicating herself to being a nurse, to help people,” Republican Rep. Earl “Buddy” Carter of Georgia told the DCNF. “Don’t think that this is the only incident there are other incidents, as well…Every city is a border city. Now, every state is a border state.”

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and the White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

AUTHOR

ARJUN SINGH

Contributor.

RELATED ARTICLE: Georgia GOP Looks To Crack Down On Sheriffs, Jailers Who Shield Illegal Immigrants From ICE After Laken Riley Murder

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EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

House Passes Immigration Bill Restarting Border Wall Construction

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The House of Representatives passed legislation along party lines Thursday that would restart construction of the border wall and reinstate the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) asylum policy.

All voting Republicans except for two supported the Secure the Border Act, with all 211 voting Democrats opposing the legislation. GOP leadership negotiated with rank-and-file members over provisions dealing with seasonal labor and drug cartels up until passage. The legislation is not expected to pass the Senate, but it could jump-start negotiations in the upper chamber for a broader deal.

The Secure the Border Act directs the Biden administration to resume building parts of the border wall that were previously scheduled for building by the Trump administration. The Trump administration built 452 miles of wall along the southern border, while the Biden administration has been slow on its promise to fill some gaps. Biden overturned the emergency declaration that Trump relied on for border wall construction on his first day in office.

Biden also eliminated the MPP, which required asylum seekers to remain in Mexico while their legal proceedings were being adjudicated. MPP formally ended in 2022, after Republican-led states lost a legal challenge that would have forced the Biden administration to maintain it. The legislation reinstates the policy.

The Biden administration will allow Title 42 to expire Thursday night, making passage of the border bill more urgent, Republican representatives argued. Federal agents are being deployed at the southern border ahead of an expected migration surge, and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers are being instructed to release migrants already in custody to increase bed space in shelters.

“It’s the obvious advertisement shown to everybody around the world that it’s time to invade the southern border and come on across,” Georgia Rep. Mike Collins told the Daily Caller. “You can tell that by the tens of thousands of people lined up there and ready to go. We had 11,000 yesterday.”

GOP leadership made last-minute revisions to provisions dealing with E-Verify. Members representing agriculture-heavy districts worried the bill could cause worker shortages if the eligibility system were immediately made mandatory and applied to seasonal workers. Leadership promised members they would work to address the issue during negotiations with the Senate.

“What they committed to is that nothing would go to the president’s desk to be signed into law that didn’t have both the E-Verify provisions and reforms to the ag labor program,” Washington Rep. Dan Newhouse, a key moderate, said.

AUTHOR

MICHAEL GINSBERG

Congressional correspondent.

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EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.