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The Republican Party’s Laken Riley Act is aimed at the president Donald Trump’s desk to become the first bill he signs after the party regained both houses of Congress and the White House.
The House of Representatives approved the bill in a 263-156 vote on Wednesday, the second time the lower house has advanced the bill this month.
It passed the House 264 to 159 on January 7. All voting Republicans supported the bill, along with 48 Democrats, two more than the most recent vote.
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Trump is expected to sign the Laken Riley Act as the first legislation of his new term. (REUTERS/Carlos Barria)
The GOP controlled Senate also advanced the bill on a bipartisan vote of 64 to 35, but added measures to deport illegal immigrants who assault a police officer or cause the death or “serious bodily injury” of another person.
The original bill would have ordered Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to detain illegal immigrants accused of theft-related crimes. It would also allow states to sue the Department of Homeland Security for damages caused to their citizens due to illegal immigration.
Most Democrats were against the bill, arguing that allowing people accused but not convicted of crimes to be deported is a slippery slope. But supporters of the bill point out that people here illegally have already broken American law.
Jose Ibarra, left, was found guilty of 10 charges in the death of Georgia nursing student Laken Riley, right. (Hyosub Shin/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP, Pool)
Notably, however, more Democrats supported the bill when it passed the House this month than when it first came up for a vote in 2024. That’s a marked difference from last year, when the Senate, then controlled by Democrats, did not even accept it. the bill for a vote.
“Nothing ever happens in this town until the American people ask for it,” the bill’s leader, Rep. Mike Collins, R-Ga., told Fox News Digital when asked about the increased support from the left.
“And they’ve been screaming for something to happen to fix the border problem.”
Rep. Randy Feenstra, R-Iowa, who led Sarah’s Law, one of the amendments adopted in the bill, told Fox News Digital, “Nearly a decade ago, the life of 21-year-old Sarah Root, was tragically cut short when she was killed by an illegal immigrant who was driving drunk… Sarah’s Law not only brought justice for the Root family, but also ensures that any illegal immigrant who harms or kills an American citizen is promptly arrested and prosecuted.”
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Rep. Mike Collins, R-Ga., spearheaded the bill in the House. (Bill Clark)
GOP lawmakers they are working to follow through Trump’s promises to crack down on illegal immigration and border security amid a flurry of executive orders from the president on those same issues. They are positioning the Laken Riley Act as the first bill to get Trump’s signature as a reflection of his effort to make his agenda permanent.
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The bill is named after a nursing student who was killed by an illegal immigrant while jogging on the University of Georgia campus.
Jose Ibarra, who was sentenced to life in prison for the murder of Laken Riley, had previously been arrested but never taken into custody by ICE.
