Supporters hold posters of slain Georgia nursing student Laken Riley as Donald Trump speaks during a campaign event at the Forum River Center in Rome, Ga., on March 9. Photo by Erik S. Lesser/EPA-EFE
Jan. 20 (UPI) — The U.S. Senate voted 64-35 on Monday to pass the proposed Laken Riley Act and sent the measure to the House of Representatives for consideration.
All Senate Republicans and a dozen Democrats voted to approve the bipartisan measure, but 33 Democrats and independent Sens. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Angus King Jr. of Maine voted against the measure.
Democrats who voted for the measure include Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada, John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, Ruben Gallego of Arizona, Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire, Mark Kelly of Arizona, Jon Ossoff of Georgia and Gary Peters of Michigan.
Other Senate Democrats who voted to pass the measure are Jacky Rosen of Nevada, Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, Elissa Slotkin of Michigan, Mark Warner of Virginia and Raphael Warnock of Georgia.
The measure, Senate Bill 5, would require the Department of Homeland Security to take into custody immigrants who illegally enter the United States and have been charged or arrested for burglary, theft, larceny or shoplifting while in the United States.
The act also would authorize states to sue the federal government for injunctive relief regarding immigration-related decisions that cause respective states or their residents harm, including financial harm of more than $100.
States could sue the federal government regarding:
- Releasing non-U.S. nationals from custody.
- Failing to vet individuals seeking admission into the United States, including asylum-seekers.
- Issuing visas to citizens of nations that unreasonably deny or delay acceptance of nationals from the respective countries.
- Exceeding limitations on immigration parole, such as not granting paroles on a case-by-case basis.
- Failing to detain an individual who has been ordered to be removed from the United States.
Two amendments modified the proposed act to include more offenses that require detention of migrants who enter the country illegally.
Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, successfully introduced an amendment requiring the arrest of immigrants who assault police officers.
Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, successfully introduced an amendment requiring Immigration and Customs Enforcement to arrest migrants who cause bodily harm or death.
Opponents of the Laken Riley Act say it would remove due process for migrants when they are accused of crimes but have not been convicted.
President Donald Trump said he expects the House to approve the Laken Riley Act and sign it into law very soon.
“It’s going to be a very beautiful bill,” Trump told media following his inaugural address on Monday. “We’re going to have a signing … within a week or so.”
The proposed measure is named after Laken Riley, 22, who was a nursing student at Augusta University-Athens but was stalked and murdered by a Venezuelan migrant while she was jogging on the University of Georgia campus in Athens on the morning of Feb. 22.
Jose Ibarra, 26, was convicted of three counts of murder, attempted rape, kidnapping and other crimes that caused Riley’s death and was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Prosecutors said Ibarra is a member of the violent Tren de Aragua gang, whose presence has been growing in the United States in recent years.
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