The GOP-led Senate advanced on Thursday the “Laken Riley Act,” legislation that would require federal officials to arrest illegal immigrants who are charged with theft-related crimes in the United States.
A bipartisan group of 84 members voted to invoke cloture, surpassing the 60-vote threshold to end a filibuster and open debate on the bill, which is expected to get a final vote on passage as early as next week.
The legislation was named after Laken Riley, a 22-year-old Georgia nursing student who was killed last year. An illegal immigrant from Venezuela, Jose Ibarra, was convicted of murdering Riley and sentenced to life in prison.
A press release from Rep. Mike Collins (R-GA), who reintroduced the Laken Riley Act for the new session of Congress, said that the bill “directly addresses one of the federal policy failures” related to Riley’s murder.
Ibarra “is an illegal alien who had been previously cited for shoplifting by the Athens Police Department,” it said. “If local law enforcement had called ICE, and ICE issued a detainer and picked him up, Laken would be alive.”
A summary of the bill says it would require “the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to detain certain non-U.S. nationals (aliens under federal law) who have been arrested for burglary, theft, larceny, or shoplifting.”
The legislation would also authorize “states to sue the federal government for decisions or alleged failures related to immigration enforcement,” the summary — which appears on the Congress.gov website — also notes.
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In March of last year, the House passed the Lake Riley Act, but the Senate — then under control of the Democrats — did not take it up for a vote. The House passed it again — with more Democrat votes — earlier this week.
NBC News reporter Sahil Kapur said in a post to X that Democrats are open to the bill as their party is “recalibrating on immigration, after getting pummeled on the issue in recent years,” including in the 2024 election.
Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA), a co-sponsor of the Laken Riley Act, said during a Fox News interview that if Democrats could not come up with at least seven votes to break a filibuster, “that’s a reason why we lost.”
In fact, a majority of Democrats did vote for cloture, including Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Fetterman. Just nine members — eight Democrats and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) — opposed moving forward.
Some Democrats want amendments, including for the sections on theft and state lawsuits, as well as how it deals with “Dreamers,” but Punchbowl News’ Andrew Desiderio said Republicans are “likely to shut this down.”
