Donald Trump‘s agenda is on the march through Congress after the Senate passed the Laken Riley Act on Monday, a bill that would more easily allow illegal migrant criminals to be deported.
After passing the Senate the bill will quickly head to the House where lawmakers are expected to ratify the Senate’s amendments before sending the bill to Trump’s desk for him to sign, marking a quick start to his second term.
The legislation, which passed with bipartisan support in the House 264 – 159 last week, was named to honor the late Georgia nursing student Laken Riley, 22, who was murdered by repeat criminal Jose Ibarra.
Ibarra, a Venezuelan national, entered the U.S. illegally and committed several crimes before eventually murdering the student as she was jogging in February 2024.
Ibarra was arrested in New York for endangering a child and was cited in Georgia for shoplifting, but wasn’t detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) before Riley’s murder.
He was later convicted in November of 10 charges, including murder, kidnapping, aggravated assault with intent to rape and more for Riley’s death.
The Laken Riley Act requires ICE to detain migrants who have been charged with theft and other crimes. It also enables individual states to sue the federal government if it or its citizens are harmed by immigration related actions.
Trump vowed in March to go after those like Ibarra, and repeatedly invoked Riley’s name on the campaign trail, vowing revenge. The swift congressional action to pass a law baring her name shows Trump making good on his word.
Donald Trump is sworn in as the 47th president of the United States by Chief Justice John Roberts as Melania Trump holds the Bible during the 60th Presidential Inauguration in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025
Laken Riley, 22, a Georgia nursing student, was murdered while out on a run by Venezuelan national Jose Ibarra, 26, in February 2024. A bill enabling ICE to deal more broadly with criminal illegal immigrants was passed by the House for a second time in her honor on Tuesday
Ibarra was charged in November with 10 counts related to Riley’s murder
‘I say he is an illegal alien, he is an illegal immigrant, he is an illegal migrant, and he should have never been in our country, and he wouldn’t have been under the Trump policies,’ President Donald Trump said in March, shortly after Riley’s murder.
The legislation requires that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and ICE detain noncitizens accused with theft.
Amendments made in the Senate make assaulting law enforcement officers and ‘any crime that results in death or serious bodily injury to another person,’ also offenses that would require illegal immigrants to be detained.
The bill had the support of many major Democratic senators.
Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., who is known to split with his party on immigration and the Israel war, co-sponsored the bill becoming the first Democrat senator to voice support for the GOP bill.
Shortly after Fetterman’s announcement, Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., also said that he would support the act in the Senate. Many others soon followed like Sens. Ruben Gallego, Mark Kelly, Mark Warner and more.
The vote to more easily deport criminal illegal migrants was tough for some Democrats, and many who voted against it caught Republican ire.
‘What in the world? 159 Democrats voted against the Laken Riley act. Why would you be in favor of rapists and murderers?’ Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., said on X after 159 House Democrats opposed the bill.
Rep. Tom Tiffany, R-Wis., similarly posted on X: ‘We passed the Laken Riley Act to ensure illegal aliens who commit theft offenses, like her killer, are deported before they can reoffend. Shamefully, 159 Democrats voted against it.’
Speaker Mike Johnson noted the importance of the bill after it passed in a press release.
U.S. Vice President-elect J.D. Vance and U.S. President-elect Donald Trump react on the day of Trump’s Presidential Inauguration at the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, U.S., January 20, 2025. Trump will likely sign the Laken Riley Act this week
A number of border related executive orders also went out from the Trump’s White House on Monday
‘Laken Riley was brutally murdered by an illegal alien that President Biden and the Democrats let into this country with their open border policy,’ Johnson’s statement said.
‘It is hard to believe after countless horrific stories like Laken’s, any House Democrats would vote against deporting illegal aliens who commit violent crimes against American citizens.’
‘But 159 just did, demonstrating some Democrats have ignored the loud and clear message from voters in this election who demanded secure borders, the deportation of violent illegal aliens, and laws that put the safety and security of the American people first.’
The Laken Riley Act previously passed the House in March 2024 with 251 Republicans and Democrats supporting the measure.
But the bill was never brought up for a vote by then-Democrat Leader Chuck Schumer last Congress.
In total, 170 Democrats voted against the bill at the time. This time, 48 House Democrats voted for the measure, up from 37 who voted for it last March.
Firebrand Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene previously lambasted Democratic Georgia lawmakers for not supporting the act.
Rep. Jamie Raskin urged his Democratic colleagues to vote against the Laken Riley Act
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, along with many other Democrats, voted against the bill. Though it eventually passed
‘This is something that will be made known across the entire state,’ she wrote on X. ‘What an absolute disgrace.
‘Democrats standing lockstep with Joe Biden and his open border policies have blood on their hands,’ her post continued.
Fox News contributor Joe Concha fretted on social media: ‘How any lawmaker can oppose this speaks volumes of the current state of the Democratic Party.’
Democrats, meanwhile, said the Republican-led measure was a political football.
‘House Republicans are once again attempting to use a horrible tragedy for political gain,’ Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., said in a statement to his colleagues about the bill.
Final picture of tragic Laken Riley before she was murdered
‘This is the Republican playbook over and over again: Scare people about immigrants, never propose anything that actually solves an outdated and arcane immigration system,’ Progressive Caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., said before the vote.
Responding to Jayapal’s speech, Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., posted on X: ‘The radical Left is going to vote against the Laken Riley Act, with a Squad member comparing Laken ’s brutal murder to kids shoplifting chips. Unreal.’
