On Wednesday, the GOP-led Senate amended the “Laken Riley Act,” a bill that would require federal officials to arrest illegal immigrants charged with crimes in the United States.
Seventy members, including Republicans and Democrats, voted in favor of expanding the legislation’s list of criminal offenses that would lead to mandatory detention of “inadmissible aliens.”
Another 25 senators voted against the amendment from Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), all Democrats and the two independents who caucus with them. Several other members did not vote.
The bill, which got approved by the House last week, would direct the secretary of Homeland Security to detain illegal immigrants charged with, convicted of, or who admits to theft-related crimes.
With the amendment included, the list now also mentions “the assault of a law enforcement officer offense, or any crime that results in death or serious bodily injury to another person.”
The Senate also rejected an amendment from Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) to “strike” a section authorizing state attorneys general to sue federal immigration officials for alleged detention violations.
Laken Riley was a 22-year-old Georgia nursing student who was killed last year. An illegal immigrant from Venezuela, Jose Ibarra, was convicted of murdering Riley and sentenced to life in prison.
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A press release from Rep. Mike Collins (R-GA), who reintroduced the Laken Riley Act for the new Congress, said the bill “directly addresses one of the federal policy failures” related to the murder.
Ibarra was “previously cited for shoplifting by the Athens Police Department,” it said. “If local law enforcement had called ICE, and ICE issued a detainer and picked him up, Laken would be alive.”
Dozens more amendments have been proposed, including two from Judiciary ranking member Dick Durbin (D-IL) that would exempt Dreamers and give them and others a path to citizenship.
But C-SPAN’s Craig Caplan reported that Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) has filed cloture on the bill, setting up a vote to advance it and limit amendments, with a 60-vote threshold.
Whatever new version of the Laken Riley Act may ultimately pass through the Senate would need another vote by the House before it could be sent to the president to possibly sign the bill into law.
