President Donald Trump signed the bipartisan Laken Riley Act Wednesday afternoon, the first bill sent to his desk this term, giving him an early win on restricting illegal immigration and combating crime by illegal aliens.
Trump put pen to paper on a piece of legislation that will mandate federal authorities detain illegal immigrants arrested for theft and related crimes before deporting them. The bill is named after Laken Riley, an Augusta University nursing student killed by Venezuelan illegal immigrant Jose Antonio Ibarra last year when she was jogging around the University of Georgia’s campus.
“This horrific atrocity should never have been allowed to happen and as president I’m fighting every day to ensure that such a tragedy never happens again,” Trump said.
“Under the law I’m signing today the Department of Homeland Security will be required to detain all illegal aliens who have been arrested for theft, burglary, larceny, shoplifting, assaulting a police officer, murder, or any crime that results in death or serious injury,” Trump added, going through the details of the legislation.
Under the Laken Riley Act, states will be empowered to sue the federal government if the White House decides not to enforce the law at the southern border.
Ibarra’s killing of Riley drew national attention to the Biden administration’s soft approach to illegal immigration and further shifted public opinion in favor of Trump’s mass deportation plan. In November, Ibarra was sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole after waiving his right to a jury trial.
Senator John Fetterman (D., Pa.) and multiple Senate Republicans attended Trump’s signing ceremony after supporting the Laken Riley Act and helping it overcome the filibuster.
“I believe a secure border creates a more secure nation and it’s just common sense,” Fetterman said in a statement. “I believe this nation is tired of leaders in D.C. prioritizing fighting over governing.”
A dozen Senate Democrats and several dozen House Democrats joined their Republican colleagues in approving the Laken Riley Act after Trump won resoundingly in November in part because of his bold agenda to curb illegal border crossings.
The House voted last week to pass the Laken Riley Act after a slightly amended version of cleared the Senate earlier this month with enough votes to prevent a filibuster. Senate Democrats were unsuccessful in pushing amendments that would have significantly altered the bill after making it known that they had concerns about it.
Senator Katie Britt (R., Ala.) led the Republican effort to pass the Laken Riley Act through the chamber and Representative Mike Collins (R., Ga.) did so on the House side. Collins’s district covers the area where Riley was brutally murdered.
“Laken’s tragic death sparked a movement that will help prevent similar tragedies and protect American families. This is how we honor her memory,” Britt said.
The Trump administration began deporting illegal immigrants by the hundreds on day one at Trump’s command. To kick off his term, the president signed a flurry of executive orders to curtail illegal migration including a national emergency declaration and designating drug cartels foreign terrorist organizations.