Congress sends GOP’s first bill to take control of Washington, Lake Reliance Act, to Trump’s desk
The Republican Laken Riley Act is headed to President Donald Trump’s desk to become the first signed legislation since his party recaptured both houses of Congress and the White House.
The House of Representatives passed the bill by a vote of 263 to 156 last Wednesday, the second time the lower house has passed it this month.
In the year It passed the House 264 to 159 on January 7. All voting Republicans, along with 48 Democrats, supported the bill – the most recent vote exceeded two.
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Trump is expected to sign the Laken Reilly Act as the first law of his new term. (Reuters/Carlos Baria)
The GOP-controlled Senate also passed the bill on a bipartisan vote of 64 to 35, but added measures to deport illegal immigrants who assault a police officer or cause death or “serious bodily injury” to another person.
The first bill directs Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers to arrest illegal immigrants accused of theft-related crimes. It allows them to sue the Department of Homeland Security for damages caused to their citizens due to illegal immigration.
Most Democrats opposed the bill, saying it would be a slippery slope to allow people accused but not convicted of crimes to be deported. But supporters of the bill point out that the people here are illegally breaking US law.
Jose Ibarra, right, was found guilty of 10 counts in the death of Georgia nursing student Laken Riley. (Hyosub Shin/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP, Pool)
More Democrats supported it when it passed the House this month than when it first came up for a vote in 2024, a big difference from last year, when the Democratic-controlled Senate didn’t even take it up, he said. For the voting bill.
“Nothing is going to happen in this town until the American people ask for it,” the bill’s leader, Rep. Mike Collins, R-Ga., told Fox News Digital when asked about the increased support from the left.
“And they were screaming at the top of their lungs that something should be done to fix the border problem.”
Randy Feenstra, R-Iowa, who sponsored Sarah’s Law, one of the amendments included in the bill, told Fox News Digital, “Nearly ten years ago, 21-year-old Sarah Ruth’s life was tragically cut short. In the case of an illegal immigrant who drives drunk…Sarah’s Law not only provides justice for the root family, but also ensures that any illegal immigrant who injures or kills. An American citizen was quickly arrested and charged.
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Rep. Mike Collins, R-Ga., spearheaded the bill in the House. (Bill Clark)
GOP lawmakers are working to follow through on Trump’s promises to crack down on illegal immigration and border security through executive orders from the president on those same issues. They put the Laken Riley Act as the first piece of legislation to reflect their efforts to make Trump’s agenda permanent.
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The bill is named after a nursing student who was killed by an illegal immigrant while jogging on the University of Georgia campus.
Jose Ibarra, who was sentenced to life in prison for Lake Riley’s murder, has been arrested before but never arrested by ICE.