Donald Trump’s agenda is headed to Congress after the Senate on Monday passed the Laken Riley Act, a bill that makes it easier to deport illegal immigrant criminals.
After the bill passes the Senate, it will quickly move to the House of Representatives, where lawmakers are expected to ratify the Senate amendments before sending the bill to Trump’s desk for signature, kicking off his second term marks.
The legislation, which passed 264 – 159 in the House of Representatives last week with bipartisan support, was named in honor of the late Georgia nursing student Laken Riley, 22, who was killed by repeat offender Jose Ibarra.
Ibarra, a Venezuelan citizen, entered the US illegally and committed several crimes before ultimately killing the student while she was jogging in February 2024.
Ibarra was arrested in New York for child endangerment and charged in Georgia with shoplifting, but was not detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) before Riley’s murder.
He was later convicted in November of 10 charges, including murder, kidnapping, aggravated assault with intent to rape and more for Riley’s death.
The Laken Riley Act requires ICE to detain migrants charged with theft and other crimes. It also allows individual states to sue the federal government if they or its citizens are harmed by immigration-related actions.
Trump vowed in March to go after people like Ibarra, and repeatedly invoked Riley’s name during his campaign, promising revenge. Congress’s quick action to pass a law mentioning her name shows that Trump is making good on his word.
Donald Trump is sworn in as the 47th President of the United States by Chief Justice John Roberts as Melania Trump holds the Bible during the 60th presidential inauguration in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Monday, January 20, 2025

Laken Riley, 22, a nursing student from Georgia, was murdered in February 2024 while on the run by Venezuelan national Jose Ibarra, 26. A bill that would allow ICE to deal more broadly with criminal illegal immigrants was introduced before the passed by the House for the second time. in honor of her Tuesday


Ibarra was indicted in November on 10 charges in connection with Riley’s murder
“I say he is an illegal alien, an illegal immigrant, an illegal migrant, and he should never have been in our country, and he should not have been under Trump’s policies,” President Donald Trump said. said in March, shortly after Riley’s murder.
The legislation requires the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and ICE to detain non-citizens accused of theft.
Amendments introduced in the Senate would make assaulting law enforcement officers and “any crime that results in death or serious bodily harm to another person” also offenses requiring the detention of illegal immigrants.
The bill received the support of many major Democratic senators.
Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., who is known to divide his party over immigration and the war in Israel, co-sponsored the bill and became the first Democratic senator to voice support for the Republican bill.
Shortly after Fetterman’s announcement, Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., also said he would support the bill in the Senate. Many others soon followed such as Sens. Ruben Gallego, Mark Kelly, Mark Warner and more.
The vote to make it easier to deport criminal illegal immigrants was tough for some Democrats, and many who voted against it drew Republican ire.
‘What in the world? 159 Democrats voted against the Laken Riley Act. Why would you support rapists and murderers?’ Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., said this on X after 159 Democrats in the House of Representatives opposed the bill.
Rep. Tom Tiffany, R-Wis., similarly posted on It’s a shame that 159 Democrats voted against it.’
Speaker Mike Johnson noted the importance of the bill in a news release after it passed.

US Vice President JD Vance and new US President Donald Trump react on the day of Trump’s presidential inauguration in the Rotunda of the US Capitol in Washington, US, January 20, 2025. Trump is likely to sign the Laken Riley Act this week

A number of border-related executive orders were also issued from the Trump White House on Monday
“Laken Riley was brutally murdered by an illegal alien that President Biden and the Democrats allowed into this country with their open borders policies,” Johnson’s statement said.
“It is difficult to believe that after countless horrific stories like Laeken’s, House Democrats would vote against the deportation of illegal aliens who commit violent crimes against American citizens.”
“But 159 did just that, showing that some Democrats have ignored the loud and clear message from voters in this election, who demanded secure borders, the deportation of violent illegal aliens, and laws that would protect the safety and security of the American people at the put first.’
The Laken Riley Act previously passed the House in March 2024, with 251 Republicans and Democrats supporting the measure.
But the bill was never put to a vote by then-Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer in the previous Congress.
A total of 170 Democrats voted against the bill at the time. This time, 48 Democrats in the House of Representatives voted for the measure, compared to 37 who voted for it last March.
Firebrand Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene previously blasted Democratic Georgia lawmakers for not supporting the bill.

Rep. Jamie Raskin urged his Democratic colleagues to vote against the Laken Riley Act

Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, along with many other Democrats, voted against the bill. Even though it eventually passed
“This is something that will be announced across the state,” she wrote on X. “What an absolute shame.
“Democrats aligned with Joe Biden and his open border policies have blood on their hands,” her post continued.
Fox News contributor Joe Concha expressed concern on social media: ‘How any lawmaker could oppose this speaks volumes about the current state of the Democratic Party.”
Democrats, meanwhile, said the Republican-led measure was a political football.
“Republicans in the House of Representatives are once again trying to use a terrible tragedy for political gain,” Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., said in a statement to colleagues about the bill.

Last photo of tragic Laken Riley before she was murdered
“This is the Republican playbook again and again: Make people afraid of immigrants, never propose anything that actually fixes an outdated and arcane immigration system,” Progressive Caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., said before the vote.
In response to Jayapal’s speech, Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., posted onThe radical left will vote against the proposal Sheet Riley Act, where a Squad member compares Sheet ‘s brutal murder of children’s shoplifting chips. Unreal.’