The House Republicans passed the first bill of the new year and the new Congress on Tuesday in honor of Laken Riley, a young nursing student who was brutally murdered by an illegal immigrant last year. The Laken Riley Act (LRA) moved through the House in a 264-159 vote with 48 Democrats supporting the bill. Should it pass in the Senate as well, the act will require detention of migrants arrested for crimes like theft.

Notably, this is not the first time this legislation has made its way to Congress. In March 2024, LRA cleared the House in a 251-170 vote, with 37 Democrats voting “yes” alongside the GOP. Shortly after, it stalled in the Senate. However, Rep. Mike Collins (R-Ga.) reintroduced LRA on January 3, stating that “the Laken Riley Act gives our law enforcement the tools they need to protect their communities and ensure that no more innocent lives are lost to a broken immigration and criminal justice system.” Collins added, “I am proud that the House was able to come together and pass this bill. If the Senate will do its job, President Trump will make it law.”

According to a press release from Collin’s office, LRA has two primary objectives: First, “it would amend federal law to require Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to issue detainers and take custody of illegal aliens who commit theft-related crimes, such as shoplifting, as defined by state and local law.” Second, “it allows state attorneys general to sue the Secretary of Homeland Security for injunctive relief if immigration actions such as parole, violation of detention requirements, or other policy failures harm that state or its citizens.”

As the statement went on to address, the bill is designed to confront “the federal policy failures related to Laken Riley’s murder,” namely, that “her murderer … is an illegal alien who had been previously cited for shoplifting by the Athens Police Department. If local law enforcement had called ICE, and ICE issued a detainer and picked him up, Laken would be alive.” But that was not the case, and it has now become the goal of several members of Congress to try and stop such a crime from being carried out on other innocent victims moving forward. The congressman concluded that “Ibarra was found guilty in November 2024 and has been sentenced to life without parole.”

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said of Tuesday’s vote, “House Republicans heard the voices of those who wanted change and voted to pass the Laken Riley Act. 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.” Other officials weighed in, many of whom used LRA to highlight the border chaos caused by the Biden administration’s policy decisions. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) contended that LRA, above all, “holds the Biden administration accountable for their role in these tragedies through their open border policies.”

Scalise shared with reporters later on Tuesday, “We’ve been very focused on border security; the Laken Riley Act makes it clear, if you’re committing crimes in America against people, it’s not going to be tolerated.” And now, as it moves to the Senate, one Democrat will reportedly be co-sponsoring the bill: Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman. In a Monday interview, the senator “slammed” House Dems who voted against LRA. In order to clear the upper chamber, LRA would need 60 votes, which means only seven Democrats in the Senate would need to vote for it. But as ABC News highlighted, “Even with the Republicans’ new 53-vote majority, it could prove difficult to court the necessary Democratic support to advance it.”

Had Laken Riley not been brutally murdered by Jose Ibarra, she would have turned 23 on Friday — the same day the bill is slated to make its way to the Senate to be voted on. All of the “no” votes from last year were from Democrats. “I think they put politics ahead of principle,” Johnson said of the previous vote, “and we’re going to find out where they stand on this now.”

He concluded, “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. … [W]e’ll be looking for that, and we’ll see how it shakes out.”