US House passes bill allowing detention of undocumented immigrants for theft

The US House of Representatives approved the Laken Riley Act on Tuesday, marking the first bill passage of the new Congress, as Donald Trump and fellow Republicans turn their attention to immigration after heavily campaigning on the issue in the November elections.

The vote was 264 to 159, as 48 Democrats joined 216 Republicans in supporting the bill. It now goes to the Republican-controlled Senate, which is expected to consider the proposal in the coming days.

The bill, named for a 22-year-old nursing student at the University of Georgia who was murdered by an undocumented immigrant last year, would require the Department of Homeland Security to detain undocumented immigrants charged with theft-related crimes. It would also allow state attorneys general to sue the federal government if they believe their states have been harmed by its failure to enforce immigration laws.

Republican Mike Johnson, the newly re-elected speaker of the House, condemned most House Democrats for opposing the bill and accused them of ignoring the wishes of voters who delivered a victory for Trump in November.

“House Republicans heard the voices of those who wanted change and voted to pass the Laken Riley Act,” Johnson said in a statement. “We will always fight to protect Americans, and today’s success is just the beginning of Republican efforts to undo the catastrophic damage caused by years of the Democrats’ failed leadership.”

Democrats framed the bill as a clear attempt to demonize immigrants that failed to address the underlying issues of the US immigration system. Representative Jamie Raskin, a Democrat of Maryland and the ranking member of the House judiciary committee, attacked Republicans over advancing a poorly crafted bill that would only “make partisan hay out of other people’s tragedies”.

“The murder of Laken Riley was an unspeakable, an appalling crime, a heinous act, and no parent, no family should ever have to bear such a calamity,” Raskin said during the floor debate on Tuesday. “But this bill fails to take any meaningful action to improve our broken immigration system and to prevent crimes like this from occurring again.”

The House passed the Laken Riley Act last year in a vote of 251 to 170, with 37 Democrats joining Republicans in backing the legislation. But the proposal went nowhere in the Senate, which was then controlled by Democrats.

Republicans now hold the majority in the Senate. Senator Katie Britt, a Republican of Alabama, reintroduced the bill on Tuesday, arguing that US voters had delivered a “verdict” to act on immigration in the November elections.

“Congress has an obligation to Laken, her family, and to families in every corner of our country to do everything in our power to help prevent this type of tragedy from occurring again,” Britt said in a statement. “That’s why it’s imperative we pass the commonsense Laken Riley Act with all due haste.”

Sixty votes will be needed to advance the bill in the Senate, so Republicans will have to persuade eight members of the Democratic caucus to join them in supporting the proposal. At least one Senate Democrat, John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, has already signed on as a co-sponsor of the bill.

“Laken Riley’s story is a tragic reminder of what’s at stake when our systems fail to protect people,” Fetterman said in a statement. “Immigration is what makes our country great. I support giving authorities the tools to prevent tragedies like this one while we work on comprehensive solutions to our broken system.”

The man accused of killing Riley, a Venezuelan named José Ibarra, was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison without parole in November.