The GOP-controlled House of Representatives voted Tuesday to pass the Laken Riley Act, a bill that prioritizes the arrest of some criminal illegal aliens. Every Republican who voted and 48 Democrats voted in support of the bill, though three GOP members and eight Democrats did not vote.
The bill is named after Georgia nursing student Laken Riley, who was murdered by an illegal alien in February 2024. The act, also known as HR 29, was the first piece of federal legislation taken up by the new 119th Congress. And for freshmen lawmakers like Rep. Addison McDowell, R-NC, it was the first piece of legislation he voted on as a sitting member of Congress.
“Laken Riley would be alive today if the Biden administration had prioritized the safety of our citizens over their open-borders agenda,” McDowell told The Daily Signal in an email Tuesday. “This bill is an important step in making sure something like this never happens again.”
If passed in the Senate and signed into law, the Laken Riley Act would require Immigration and Customs Enforcement to arrest and detain illegal aliens who “commit theft offenses,” according to the bill’s author. The bill also gives states the authority to sue federal officials who refuse to enforce immigration laws.
McDowell added that with President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20, “there will be a new sheriff in town, and I am eager to help President Trump fix the Biden border crisis.”
Speaking on the House floor Tuesday ahead of the vote, Rep. Mike Collins, R-GA, who wrote the bill, read a message from Riley’s family endorsing it.
“Laken would have been 23 on Jan. 10. There is no greater gift that could be given to her, or our country, than saving lives through this bill,” the Georgia congressman read.
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