The GOP Lakin-Riley Act is heading to the president Donald Trump Office to become the first bill he signed into law after the party regained control of both chambers of Congress and the White House.
The House approved the bill by a vote of 263 to 156 on Wednesday, marking the second time the House has introduced the bill this month.
It was passed by the House of Representatives by a vote of 264 to 159 on January 7. All voting Republicans supported the bill, along with 48 Democrats — two more than the last vote.
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Trump is expected to sign the Laken-Riley Act into law as the first piece of legislation during his new term. (Reuters/Carlos Barria)
the The Senate is controlled by the Republican Party The bill also advanced on a bipartisan 64-35 vote, but added measures to deport illegal immigrants who assault a police officer or cause death or “serious bodily injury” to another person.
The original bill would direct Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers to detain undocumented immigrants accused of theft-related crimes. It would also allow states to sue the Department of Homeland Security for damages to their citizens caused by illegal immigration.
A majority of Democrats opposed the bill, saying allowing the deportation of people accused but not convicted of crimes is a slippery slope. But the bill's supporters point out that the people here illegally have already broken U.S. law.
Jose Ibarra, left, was found guilty of 10 counts in the death of Georgia nursing student Lakin Riley, right. (Hyoseob Shin/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP, Pool)
However, it is noteworthy that more Democrats supported the bill when it passed the House this month than when it was first put up for a vote in 2024. A marked difference from last year when the then-Democrat-controlled Senate did not By taking charge. The bill is up for a vote.
“Nothing is going to happen in this city here until the American people demand it,” the bill's leader, Rep. Mike Collins, told Fox News Digital when asked about the growing support from the left.
“And they were screaming at the top of their lungs, demanding that something happen to fix the border problem.”
“Nearly a decade ago, 21-year-old Sarah Root's life was tragically cut short when she was murdered,” Rep. Randy Feenstra, R-Iowa, who led Sarah's Law, one of the amendments approved in the bill, told Fox News Digital. By an illegal immigrant who was driving while intoxicated… Sarah's Law not only brought justice to the Root family, but also ensured that any illegal immigrant who harmed or killed an American citizen would be quickly arrested and prosecuted.
Rep. Mike Collins, Republican of Georgia, led the bill in the House. (Bill Clark)
Republican Party representatives They are working on following up Through Trump's promises to crack down on illegal immigration and border security amid a wave of executive orders from the president on those same issues. They are positioning the Lakin-Riley Act as the first bill to receive Trump's signature as a reflection of their efforts to make his agenda permanent.
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The bill is named after a nursing student who was killed by an illegal immigrant while jogging on the University of Georgia campus.
Jose Ibarra, who was sentenced to life in prison for the murder of Laken Riley, had previously been arrested but never detained by ICE.
