Last week, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 7511, the Laken Riley Act. Introduced by Congressman Mike Collins (R-Ga.), the bill passed by a vote of 251-170, with all Republicans supporting it along with 37 Democrats. The Laken Riley Act takes meaningful steps to protect Americans from criminal aliens flooding across the border by expanding the grounds for mandatory detention and providing state attorneys general with authority to sue the federal government for not enforcing our immigration laws.
Last month, Laken Riley, a 22-year-old nursing student, was brutally murdered in Collins’ district while going for a run near the University of Georgia’s campus. Her alleged murderer is Jose Antonio Ibarra, an illegal alien from Venezuela who was released in 2022 under the Biden Administration’s unlawful use of immigration parole. Ibarra then made his way to the sanctuary city of New York, where he was arrested and charged with child endangerment, but released before Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) could detain him. Following his release in New York, Ibarra traveled to Athens-Clarke County, another sanctuary jurisdiction in Georgia, where he was cited for misdemeanor shoplifting in October 2023, before being arrested for taking the life of Laken Riley in February 2024.
House Republicans, including leadership, emphasized their support for the bill in the leadup to the vote. In a statement yesterday, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said, “The Laken Riley Act is so important because we’ve got to ensure that this can’t happen again. Republicans will not stand for the release of dangerous criminals into our communities, and that’s exactly what the Biden administration has done” Following the bill’s passage, Congressman Collins is expected to attend President Biden’s State of the Union address without a guest in memory of Laken Riley. According to Collins, “the seat reserved for my guest will remain vacant to honor Laken and all American victims of illegal alien crime. As Joe Biden attempts to paint a rosy picture of the crime-ridden country he has created, he will look up to an empty seat that memorializes those we’ve lost because of his open border policies.”
The Laken Riley Act would implement key changes to the law to help ensure the safety of American communities. The bill would require the detention of inadmissible aliens for theft-related crimes by amending section 236(c) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), which sets forth detention requirements for criminal aliens. The Laken Riley Act would amend that section to require the detention of an alien that “is charged with, is arrested for, is convicted of, admits having committed, or admits committing acts which constitute the essential elements of any burglary, theft, larceny, or shoplifting offense.” The bill would also then require the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary to issue detainers for such aliens to transfer them from local law enforcement into ICE’s custody.
Due to the Biden Administration’s open-borders policies, a record nearly 44,000 criminal aliens have been apprehended at our borders since Fiscal Year (FY) 2021. That number includes nearly 4,000 aliens convicted of assault, battery, or domestic violence, and another 1,200 aliens guilty of sexual offenses. Within the country, ICE arrested 73,822 illegal aliens with over 290,000 associated charges and convictions in FY2023. Those charges and convictions consisted of 33,209 for assault, 4,390 for sexual assault, and 1,713 for homicide. Put another way, criminal illegal aliens attempting to enter the country are up across the board under this administration.
In addition to changing detention requirements, the bill would grant state attorneys general with legal standing to sue the federal government due to harm inflicted on their states or citizens from the failure of DHS, the State Department, or the Department of Justice (DOJ) to enforce our immigration laws. That provision would cover failing to detain and remove illegal aliens, granting parole in contravention of the statute, and continuing to issue visas to countries not accepting return of their citizens. Enforcement advocates have long called for Congress to give states a right of legal standing. This authority would be instrumental in holding the Biden Administration accountable for the crisis it has created at our borders.
Laken Riley’s tragic murder serves as yet another example of how failing to secure our borders impacts states across the country. The passage of the Laken Riley Act will help to prevent more senseless deaths as a result of the Biden Administration’s open-borders policies, and ensure that the same tragedy is not inflicted on more American families and their loved ones. FAIR applauds the House for quickly moving the bill forward and urges the Senate to do the same.
