GOP leaders are moving ahead with the Laken Riley Act. What’s in the bill?

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GOP leaders are moving ahead with the Laken Riley Act. What’s in the bill?
Author: Katie Hawkinson
Published: Jan, 07 2025 18:47

Laken Riley was brutally murdered in February while on a run. The House of Representatives passed on Tuesday the Laken Riley Act, a bill named for a 22-year-old college student murdered by an undocumented immigrant last year. The bill, which passed the House with bipartisan support in a 264-159 vote on Tuesday afternoon, would allow states to sue the Department of Homeland Security for “failures related to immigration enforcement.” While it already passed the House last Congress, it never went before the Senate.

 [Speaker Mike Johnson called on Democrats to support the Laken Riley Act on Tuesday]
Image Credit: The Independent [Speaker Mike Johnson called on Democrats to support the Laken Riley Act on Tuesday]

Now, Republicans are pushing for a vote after promising to prioritize border security and immigration in the first days of the new 119th Congress. The Senate is expected to now take up the bill Friday, though it is unclear if it will pass. Here’s what you need to know about the bill:.

 [Laken Riley’s mother, Allyson Phillips, pictured watching during Jose Ibarra’s trial. She called her daughter ‘smart, hardworking, kind, thoughtful, and...a child of God’ in court last year]
Image Credit: The Independent [Laken Riley’s mother, Allyson Phillips, pictured watching during Jose Ibarra’s trial. She called her daughter ‘smart, hardworking, kind, thoughtful, and...a child of God’ in court last year]

The Laken Riley Act requires the Department of Homeland Security to detain “non-U.S. nationals” who have been arrested for burglary, theft, larceny or shoplifting. It would also allow states to sue the federal government “for decisions or alleged failures related to immigration enforcement.” These “failures” could include decisions to “release non-U.S. national[s] from custody,” failure to “fulfill requirements relating to inspecting individuals seeking admission” to the U.S. and “failure to detain an individual who has been ordered removed” from the U.S., among other things.

 [Senator Katie Britt, who is the lead Senate sponsor on the Laken Riley Act, criticized Senate Democrats for not voting on the bill last Congress]
Image Credit: The Independent [Senator Katie Britt, who is the lead Senate sponsor on the Laken Riley Act, criticized Senate Democrats for not voting on the bill last Congress]

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