On Jan. 29, 2025, President Donald Trump signed the Laken Riley Act into law. This bill was named in honor of Laken Riley, who was a nursing student at the University of Georgia. Riley was murdered in February of 2024 by an undocumented immigrant from Venezuela who had prior arrests in New York and Georgia but had not been restrained by federal immigration authorities.
According to BBC, “The bill requires the Department of Homeland Security to detain migrants if they are charged with certain criminal offences, including theft, shoplifting, burglary, assault against law enforcement or any crimes that result in death or serious bodily injury of another person.”
The bill was authored by Senator Katie Boyd Britt from Alabama, who is a part of the Republican Party. The Laken Riley Act was initially introduced in the 118th Congress in the House of Representatives on March 1, 2024, where it cleared the House’s vote with a vote of 251-170. The support was composed of all of the Republican representatives voting for the passing of this bill and 35 Democrats. The bill faced opposition in the Senate, which at the time held Democratic power, and did not pass.
In the 119th Congress, the bill was reintroduced and passed again in the House of Representatives with a vote of 264-159 on Jan. 7, 2025. On Jan. 20, 2025, the Laken Riley Act was passed in the Senate with a vote of 64-35 and was signed into law by current President Donald Trump nine days later. The Laken Riley Act was President Trump’s first legislation in his second term in office.
Key provisions of the Laken Riley Act include the fact that minors are not exempt and that there is no opportunity for release.
