On Tuesday, the House of Representatives Rules Committee will prepare to vote on the Laken Riley Act, a bill which would require the secretary of Homeland Security to take into custody aliens who have been charged in the United States with theft.
Jose Antonio Ibarra, a 26-year-old illegal immigrant from Venezuela who has been named as the suspect in Laken Riley’s murder, was arrested in August 2023 by New York police after he was caught driving an unregistered car with a five-year-old inside. He was charged in the Riley case with malice murder, felony murder, aggravated battery, aggravated assault, false imprisonment, and kidnapping after Riley’s body was found on February 22 near the University of Georgia’s Intramural Fields and Lake Herrick.
His brother Diego, who was arrested and charged with possessing a fraudulent green card on February 23, had been arrested in New York in September 2023 for driving under the influence without a license; in October 2023, he was arrested again for shoplifting.
“The Biden administration should not have released Laken Riley’s alleged murderer into the United States,” the bill, H.R. 7511, states. “The Biden administration should have arrested and detained Laken Riley’s alleged murderer after he was charged with crimes in New York, New York, and Athens, Georgia; President Biden should publicly denounce his administration’s immigration policies that resulted in the murder of Laken Riley; and President Biden should prevent another murder like that of Laken Riley by ending the catch-and-release of illegal aliens, increasing immigration enforcement, detaining and removing criminal aliens, reinstating the Remain in Mexico policy, ending his abuse of parole authority, and securing the United States borders.”
House lawmakers are hoping to get the bill to the floor for a vote as soon as this week.
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The bill also would give the attorney general of a state or another authorized state officer, standing to bring an action against the Attorney General or Secretary of Homeland Security “alleging an action or decision by the Attorney General or Secretary of Homeland Security under this section to release any alien or grant bond or parole to any alien that harms such State or its residents.”