House passes Laken Riley Act, sending the first bill to Trump to sign into law

WASHINGTON — The Republican-led House on Wednesday passed the Laken Riley Act, a strict immigration detention measure named for a 22-year-old Georgia nursing school student who was murdered last year by an undocumented immigrant.

The legislation, aimed at clamping down on people in the U.S. illegally who commit nonviolent crimes like theft, is expected to be the first bill President Donald Trump signs into law after returning to the White House this week.

The House vote was 263-156, with 46 Democrats joining all Republicans in support of the measure. The bill passed the Senate on Monday by a vote of 64-35, winning 12 Democratic votes. Among them were Sens. Gary Peters, of Michigan; Jon Ossoff, of Georgia; Jeanne Shaheen, of New Hampshire; and Mark Warner, of Virginia, all up for face re-election in 2026.

In November, Jose Ibarra, 26, a Venezuelan citizen who was in the United States illegally, was found guilty of kidnapping, assaulting and murdering Riley while she was out for a jog near the University of Georgia campus in Athens. Ibarra was sentenced to life in prison without parole.

On the 2024 campaign trail, Trump and Republicans highlighted that Ibarra had been cited for shoplifting by a Georgia police department, but that Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not issue a detainer for him and he was not taken into custody.

The Laken Riley Act, written by Rep. Mike Collins, R-Ga., would require ICE to take custody of and detain undocumented immigrants who are charged, arrested or convicted of committing acts of "burglary, theft, larceny, or shoplifting."

"It's bittersweet," Collins said after the vote, adding that he had spoken to Riley's family earlier in the day. "For a young lady that wanted to dedicate her career and her life to saving lives, now her name will live on forever and it will save lives."

An earlier version of the bill passed the House by a vote of 264-159, with 48 Democrats supporting it. Last year, the GOP-controlled House passed the bill, but it was ignored by the Democratic-led Senate and President Joe Biden never said if he supported it.

"You now have a willing partner in the Senate that actually wants to confront real problems facing families, so that you don’t have more Laken Rileys," House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., told reporters before the vote.

"You don’t have more murders of innocent people because of an open border. President Trump has already taken action to start reversing that open border," he added.

The Senate adopted two amendments to add to the list of acts that trigger mandatory detention of unauthorized migrants: one from Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, that includes assault of a police officer, and another from Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, that includes acts causing death or bodily harm to an individual.

Passage of the Laken Riley Act comes in the midst of a heated debate among Democrats about how to deal with the issue of immigration after their bruising 2024 election defeat — and how to handle Trump's plans for mass deportation.

Pro-immigration activists have blasted the bill as a scheme to rip away due process for migrants and upend the system, and some Democrats called it an unfunded mandate that will cost billions. Other Democrats in competitive districts and states backed it, seeking to show support for aggressive immigration enforcement.

The politics of the issue have shifted to the right. According to NBC News exit polls, immigration ranked as the fourth-biggest concern among voters in the 2024 election, and those Americans voted for Trump over Democratic rival Kamala Harris 89% to 9%. Trump also gained significant ground among Latino voters generally and won Latino men outright, exit polls showed.

Addressing the divide in the party over the bill, House Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar, D-Calif., told reporters: "Members will vote their districts. Members have to balance ... their love for this country with the job that they have to do for their constituents. We expect them to do both in the votes that they make."

"The Democratic Caucus believes in a safe and secure border," Aguilar continued. "We believe in order at the border and a fix to our broken immigration system. We also believe in ensuring the public safety of our communities."

Democrats who opposed the Laken Riley Act argued that the legislation was too draconian.

"Laken Riley casts out a net to cuff, arrest and deport people who have committed minor offenses. In that sense, it is not a good thing," Rep. Adriano Espaillat, D-N.Y., the new chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, told NBC News.

"Any discussion that should be had here around the issue of border security, around the issue of immigration," he said, "should include something on Dreamers, farm workers and families."

Laken Riley’s father, Jason Riley, told NBC News in an interview that he was grateful for the lawmakers who supported the legislation, which he said he believed has “helped change things politically.”

“I think it turned out to be a good thing,” he said Wednesday. He added that he hates that her killing “became such a national story” and put the family in the spotlight, but that he understood “why it became so politically charged.”

“We’re very happy with the way things have turned out,” he said.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com