House passes immigration bill named after slain Georgia student Laken Riley

The House on Thursday passed a bill that would require the detention of any migrant who committed burglary or theft, legislation that House Republicans named after a Georgia student who police say was killed by a man who illegally crossed the border.

The measure — dubbed the Laken Riley Act — cleared the chamber in a 251-170 vote, with 37 Democrats joining all Republicans present in voting “yes.” It was the latest move by GOP lawmakers to put a spotlight on the situation at the southern border, which has emerged as a key issue in the 2024 campaign cycle and a top vulnerability for President Biden heading into the general election.

Republicans have seized on Riley’s death to hammer the Biden administration.

“Innocent Americans from Laken Riley in Georgia to the 14-year-old rape victim of an illegal immigrant in our home state of Louisiana,” Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said Wednesday “They’ve all been victimized by those whom the Biden administration has released into our country. He is releasing them into your state.”

Jose Ibarra, a 26-year-old Venezuelan citizen who authorities said had entered the country illegally, was charged with murder in Riley’s death.

The House approved the legislation hours before Biden is set to deliver his State of the Union address, which Republicans have said they hope will call attention to Riley’s death.

Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.) penned a letter to the president this week urging him to say the Georgia student’s name during his remarks, and Rep. Mike Collins (R-Ga.) said his guest seat for Thursday’s speech will be empty “in honor of Laken Riley and all Americans who have lost their lives to an illegal alien criminal.” A number of Republicans are bringing immigration-focused guests to the speech to put a spotlight on the salient issue.

Democrats, meanwhile, have slammed Republicans for what they see as an exploitation of Riley’s death in the hot-button debate over immigration and border security.

“Unfortunately, instead of coming together to express our sorrow for Laken’s tragic loss, the majority appears to be exploiting her death for yet another partisan, political stunt,” Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) said on the House floor Thursday.

“Rather than approaching this tragic event in a thoughtful manner, Republicans appear to have just thrown together language from existing, unrelated bills that target and scapegoat immigrants to score cheap political points in an election year while doing nothing to address the situation at the border,” he added. “This approach is fundamentally unserious.”

Studies have routinely shown that migrants are less likely to commit crimes than U.S. citizens.

The bill would be a dramatic shift in detention policy. Those arrested for nonviolent crimes have not been prioritized by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

While the bill would require detention for those arrested for “any burglary, theft, larceny, or shoplifting offense,” it’s not clear doing so in this case would have prevented the release of Ibarra.

U.S. Customs and Border Enforcement has said Ibarra entered the country illegally in September 2022 near El Paso, Texas, from Mexico and was released for further processing after being detained. It’s unclear if he was seeking asylum.

Ibarra was later arrested in Georgia after being given citations for shoplifting and failing to appear for his court date. 

The issue of immigration has risen to the top of polls as the issue voters are most concerned about ahead of the November presidential election. In a Gallup survey released last month, 28 percent of respondents said immigration was the most important problem facing the country today, the highest ranked. Behind immigration was the government at 20 percent and the economy in general at 12 percent.

The salience of the topic of immigration on the campaign trail came into sharp focus last month, when Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-N.Y.) won a special election to fill the seat left vacant by former Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.), who was expelled from Congress in December.

Republicans in recent months amped up their criticism of Biden and his handling of the situation at the southern border, slamming Democrats nationwide for being complicit in what they dub a crisis. Suozzi, however, flipped the script on Republicans, calling for legislation to address the flow of migrants and endorsing the bipartisan Senate agreement on border security.

The strategy was successful, helping Suozzi clinch a nearly 8-point win in the district that flipped the seat from red to blue and solidified his return to the lower chamber.

Johnson accused Suozzi of running his campaign “like a Republican,” pointing to his messaging on immigration. Suozzi, however, rejected that sentiment after his swearing-in ceremony, citing immigration.

“Like any patriot of the greatest country on Earth, I’m willing to compromise to try and solve problems, like the chaos at the border,” he said.