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