House passes Laken Riley Act to amp up border enforcement and put pressure on Democrats

WASHINGTON — The Republican-led House on Tuesday passed its first bill of the new Congress — a strict border measure named for a 22-year-old Georgia nursing school student whose murder last year by an immigrant in the country illegally became a flashpoint in the 2024 presidential campaign.

The 264-159 vote to pass the Laken Riley Act puts pressure on Senate Democrats to support the legislation when Republicans, who now control the upper chamber, bring it to the floor for an initial vote on Friday, what would have been Riley’s 23rd birthday.

All 52 Senate Republicans are co-sponsoring the bill, as is Democratic Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania. That means Republicans need seven more Senate Democrats to reach the 60 votes needed to overcome a filibuster.

“We welcome with open arms, any Democrat who wants to help us solve these problems because the American people demand and deserve it. It’s overdue,” Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., told reporters before the vote.

In November, Jose Ibarra, a 26-year-old 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.

Appearing on the campaign trail in Georgia with Riley’s family members, Trump seized on the issue and blamed President Joe Biden’s immigration policies for her murder. Trump’s congressional allies highlighted that Ibarra had been cited for shoplifting by a local Georgia police department but Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, did not issue a detainer for Ibarra and he was not taken into custody.

The bill, authored by Rep. Mike Collins, R-Ga., would change federal law to require ICE, operating under the Homeland Security Department, to issue detainers and take custody of people in the country illegally who commit theft-related crimes, including shoplifting.

“We’re going to detain and deport illegal aliens who commit burglary, theft, larceny, shoplifting, certainly vicious and violent crime, and I can’t believe anybody would be opposed to that,” Johnson said.

Last March, the House passed the Laken Riley Act on a 251 to 170 vote, with 37 Democrats — most representing swing districts or running for statewide office — joining all Republicans in voting yes. Among the Democrats backing the measure were then-Reps. Ruben Gallego of Arizona and Elissa Slotkin of Michigan, who both won election to the Senate in November. Then controlled by Democrats, the Senate in the last Congress did not take up the bill.

More House Democrats voted for the Laken Riley Act this time around: 48 of them joined all Republicans present in voting aye.

Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso, R-Wyo., said Tuesday that Democrats in his chamber, including the two moderates from Georgia, will be under immense pressure to support the bill.

“People are going to have to make a decision. It’s now a bipartisan bill; Fetterman has now signed on,” Barrasso said, noting that Gallego and Slotkin are already on record supporting the bill.

“And we’re gonna see what the Georgia senators do too. This happened in Georgia," he said. "And Friday, the day of the vote here in the Senate, is actually Laken Riley’s birthday.”

Senate Democrats planned to discuss the bill during their weekly lunch on Tuesday, according to Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn. But he said his own view is that the legislation would complicate current immigration law.

"I just don't think it's a good bill. I think it's going to make the immigration system written as is, much, much much more complicated, byzantine and confusing because of this new right it provides for attorneys general to litigate detainment cases in court," Murphy said Tuesday.

"It's just not a well-constructed piece of legislation," he said.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com