Washington — The House approved the Laken Riley Act on Wednesday, signing off on the Senate’s changes to the legislation aimed at expanding the federal government’s mandate to detain immigrants who are in the country illegally.
The House passed the legislation in a 263 to 156 vote. It now heads to President Trump’s desk, where it’s expected to be the first piece of legislation he signs in his new term.
The bill is named after Laken Riley, a 22-year-old nursing student who was murdered by an undocumented Venezuelan immigrant last year. It would expand mandatory detention to include noncitizens convicted of or charged with burglary, larceny, theft or shoplifting, as well as those who admit to committing those crimes. The legislation also includes a provision that empowers state attorneys general who claim their states or residents have been harmed by immigration policies to sue the federal government.
“This legislation would simply say that we have to detain some of the worst people that are here illegally,” Republican Rep. Chip Roy of Texas said on the House floor Wednesday.
Some Democrats spent floor debate ahead of the vote focused on the pardons Mr. Trump granted to people convicted for their actions related to the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021, arguing it was hypocritical for Republicans who supported the pardons to push this bill.
“These are the people who want you to believe, want us to believe, that they are keeping violent criminals off the streets,” Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York said.
The House approved a version of the legislation earlier this month in a 264 to 159 vote, with 48 Democrats joining Republicans. It then went to the Senate, where an amended version passed with bipartisan support on Monday.
The Senate’s changes expanded the legislation’s scope to include the assault of a law enforcement officer and crimes that result in the death “or serious bodily injury of another person” as grounds for mandatory detention. Democrats had also hoped to further amend the legislation, seeking to protect DACA recipients and eliminate the provision that empowers state attorneys general, among other things. Still, 12 Senate Democrats ultimately backed the legislation, propelling it to passage.
The support from Democrats comes after the measure stalled in the Democratic-controlled Senate last year, when the House first approved it. Democrats have appeared more willing to engage on the measure in the new Congress, following the 2024 election, in which immigration was a key issue.
Still, the legislation has prompted questions among some Democrats, including whether Immigration and Customs Enforcement could fully enforce this new mandate without more funding.
