Senate Republicans introduce Laken Riley Act, urge immediate consideration of ‘commonsense’ bill

FIRST ON FOX: Two Senate Republicans introduced the Laken Riley Act, a measure requiring federal immigration authorities to arrest and detain illegal immigrants charged with local theft or burglary, in the upper chamber Tuesday evening.

Introduced by senators Katie Britt, R-Ala., and Ted Budd, R-N.C., the bill serves as the Senate companion to H.R. 7511, originally introduced in the House by Georgia GOP Rep. Mike Collins.

The measure would require U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to arrest illegal immigrants who commit theft, burglary, larceny or shoplifting offenses and mandate that those who commit such crimes are detained until they are removed from the United States, so they cannot break the same law or commit further crimes.

Additionally, the bill would ensure that states have standing to bring civil actions against federal officials who refuse to enforce immigration law or who violate the law.

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The measure is named after 22-year-old Laken Riley, a college nursing student recently killed on the campus of the University of Georgia. Jose Antonio Ibarra, the illegal immigrant from Venezuela charged in the murder, was arrested in New York prior to the murder but was not detained by ICE.

Before being charged with felony murder, Ibarra was once arrested in New York for endangering a child, and he was cited in Georgia for misdemeanor shoplifting in October 2023 along with his brother, Diego Ibarra, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

“Make no mistake, Laken Riley’s heartbreaking murder was a direct, preventable consequence of willful open border policies by President Biden and his administration. This commonsense legislation would ensure ICE detains and deports criminal illegal aliens, so more innocent American families do not have to face this kind of unimaginable tragedy,” Britt told Fox News Digital. 

“I am grateful for Rep. Collins’ strong leadership and for Sen. Budd’s partnership in introducing this Senate companion bill. Sen. Schumer should bring this bill to the Senate floor immediately.”

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“States should be able to protect their citizens from the Biden administration’s lawless, open border policies by seeking relief in federal court,” Budd told Fox. “That’s why I am joining Sen. Britt to introduce the Senate version of the Laken Riley Act.

“We simply cannot tolerate any more senseless tragedies like this one. What happened to Laken Riley should never happen to any American citizen.”

Collins, who has urged the Senate to take up the legislation immediately to “ensure justice for Laken and give ICE more tools to detain and deport criminal illegal aliens before they commit more serious crimes,” said in a statement shared with Fox he’s “grateful” the “vital” legislation has been introduced in the Senate.

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“The Laken Riley Act passed the House of Representatives overwhelmingly and on a bipartisan basis,” Collins said. “I am grateful to Sen. Britt for taking the lead on getting this vital legislation through the Senate, so we can put Laken Riley’s name on Joe Biden’s desk and take a step toward preventing this from happening to another American.”

Collins’ measure was passed by a 251-170 vote last week by the House. All 170 no votes were Democrats. However, 37 Democrats joined Republicans to advance the bill.

Collins, who represents Georgia’s 10th Congressional District of Athens, where the fatal attack happened Feb. 22, said the murder of Riley is a “wake-up call” for America and that the measure seeks to combat the “illegal crime wave” that he attributes to the ongoing border crisis.

In the days following Riley’s death, President Biden faced scrutiny for his comments on the subject.

At the urging of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., Biden, during an off-script moment in his State of the Union address last week, decried Riley’s killing by “an illegal.” The president later backtracked during an interview with MSNBC’s Jonathan Capehart, saying he should have instead used the word “undocumented” to describe Ibarra.

“I shouldn’t have used illegal, I should’ve … it’s undocumented,” Biden told Capehart. “And, look, when I spoke about the difference between Trump and me, one of the things I talked about on the border was his — the way he talks about vermin, the way he talks about these people polluting the blood. I talked about what I’m not going to do, what I won’t do. I’m not going to treat any, any, any of these people with disrespect. Look, they built the country.”

The White House said Monday Biden “did not apologize.”

“First of all, I want to be really clear about something: The president absolutely did not apologize. There was no apology anywhere in that conversation,” principal deputy press secretary Olivia Dalton told reporters aboard Air Force One. “He did not apologize. He used a different word.”

The companion measure in the Senate included more than 30 original GOP co-sponsors, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.

Fox News’ Greg Norman, Aubrie Spady, Thomas Phippen, and Danielle Wallace contributed to this report.