House passes Laken Riley Act as first bill of new Congress
Written by ABC Audio ALL RIGHTS RESERVED on January 7, 2025
(WASHINGTON) — The House voted at 1 p.m. Tuesday on the Laken Riley Act, passing the bill as its first piece of legislation of the 119th Congress on a vote of 264 to 159.
Forty-eight Democrats voted in favor of the bill.
“Laken Riley was brutally murdered by an illegal alien that President Biden and the Democrats let into this country with their open border policy,” House Speaker Mike Johnson said in a statement after the vote. “It is hard to believe after countless horrific stories like Laken’s, ANY House Democrats would vote against deporting illegal aliens who commit violent crimes against American citizens.
“But 159 just did, demonstrating some Democrats have ignored the loud and clear message from voters in this election who demanded secure borders, the deportation of violent illegal aliens, and laws that put the safety and security of the American people first,” he added.
Reintroduced by Georgia Rep. Mike Collins, a Republican, the legislation pins Riley’s death on the Biden administration’s open-border policies and grants power to attorneys general to sue the federal government if they can show their states are being harmed over failure to implement national immigration policies. The measure also allows states to sue the Department of Homeland Security for harm caused to citizens allegedly due to illegal immigration.
The bill was named after Riley, a nursing student who was murdered by illegal immigrant Jose Ibarra while jogging on campus at the University of Georgia. Ibarra was sentenced to life in prison for the murder.
“The only thing President Biden did after Laken’s tragic death was apologize for calling her murderer an illegal,” Johnson said ahead of the vote. “That’s outrageous. We all know the real victim here was young Laken. There are real consequences to policy decisions. This one was deadly.”
The House previously passed the bill in March by a vote of 251-170, with 37 Democrats voting in favor. The bill was expected to pass again with bipartisan support.
“House Republicans heard the voices of those who wanted change and voted to pass the Laken Riley Act,” Johnson said Tuesday. “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.”
The measure now heads to the Senate, where Majority Leader John Thune teed up a procedural vote on the Laken Riley Act, which could occur as soon as this week. It will be one of the first legislative actions taken by the new Senate.
The bill will need 60 votes to advance through the upper chamber. Even with the Republicans’ new 53-vote majority, it could prove difficult to court the necessary Democratic support to advance it.
So far, only one Democrat, Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman, is reportedly co-sponsoring the bill, which is being led in the chamber by Sens. Katie Britt, R-Ala., and Ted Budd, R-N.C. It is unclear whether there will be requisite Democratic support to clear the Senate.
The Senate, under Democratic leadership last session, never considered the act as a standalone bill. But it previously considered the Laken Riley Act when Senate Republicans forced a vote on it as an amendment to a sweeping government funding package in March. The amendment was considered as a government shutdown loomed, and changes to the bill would have likely forced a government shutdown.
No Democrats voted for it at the time, though it later earned the support of Montana Sen. Jon Tester, who lost reelection to Republican Sen. Tim Sheehy.
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