U.S. Sen. Katie Britt (R-Montgomery) praised the Senate's bipartisan 84-9 vote to advance the Laken Riley Act on Thursday.
The vote total clears the 60-vote threshold to begin debate on the bill in the Senate, but the legislation still has procedural hurdles to clear before it gets final passage.
Britt said on Thursday before the vote, "The Laken Riley Act will help prevent other families from experiencing this unimaginable heartache."
"As it is already the case under current law for various types of criminal activities, our bill would require U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to detain illegal aliens who commit theft-related offenses and would mandate that these illegal aliens are detained until their removal from the United States before they get the opportunity to commit further, graver crimes," Britt said.
This legislation was originally introduced in the House of Representatives by Congressman Mike Collins (R-Ga.) and passed the House of Representatives on Tuesday by a bipartisan vote of 264 to 159.
"Today's vote on the Laken Riley Act is an important step forward in making our country safer, but there's still more work to be done to get this commonsense legislation across the finish line," Britt said. "Laken's horrific murder should never have happened. While we cannot bring Laken back, Congress can and must pass the Laken Riley Act to save American lives and prevent this tragedy from repeating itself. Congress has an obligation to Laken, her family, and to Americans in every corner of our country to get this bill passed and signed into law."
The bill's name comes from the February 2024 abduction and murder of Laken Riley, who was an undergraduate student at the Augusta University nursing school and a former student at the University of Georgia. The suspect in the case is a 26-year-old illegal immigrant, Jose Antonio Ibarra, from Venezuela, who police say abducted Riley while she was jogging on the UGA campus. Police previously released Ibarra after charging him with shoplifting.
Riley would have been 23 years old Friday.
In addition to requiring ICE to arrest and remove specific illegals, it would also ensure 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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