House passes Laken Riley Act again: 159 leftist Democrats oppose it

On Tuesday, the Republican-led House of Representatives passed the "Laken Riley Act" once again, legislation that mandates federal officials to arrest undocumented immigrants charged with theft in the United States. While that should be a 'no-brainer,' some on the left don't agree with the bill.

The bill garnered support from forty-eight Democrats and 216 Republicans, securing its approval in the House. It had previously passed in March of the previous year, but this session saw 159 Democrats voting against it, down from 170 in the prior vote.

These dissenting votes, according to Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), demonstrated that some Democrats "ignored" the public's demand for "secure borders, the deportation of violent illegal aliens, and laws that put the safety and security of the American people first."

This act is named in honor of Laken Riley, a 22-year-old nursing student from Georgia who was brutally killed last year. The convicted scumcrumpet, Jose Ibarra, a 26-year-old undocumented immigrant from Venezuela, was sentenced to life imprisonment for her murder.

The legislation would compel the Secretary of Homeland Security to detain undocumented immigrants charged with theft within the U.S. and also grants states the authority to sue federal officials for "injunctive relief" should immigration policies or actions adversely affect their citizens.

During the debate, Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) criticized the bill, stating that it was an attempt by lawmakers to "score cheap political points off of a tragic death" and that it "unfairly sweeps up many more innocent lives with no due process."

Rep. Mike Collins (R-GA), who reintroduced the bill for the current session of Congress, highlighted in a press release that the Laken Riley Act "directly addresses one of the federal policy failures" linked to Riley's murder. According to Collins, "Ibarra is an illegal alien who had been previously cited for shoplifting by the Athens Police Department. If local law enforcement had called ICE, and ICE issued a detainer and picked him up, Laken would be alive."

Although the Senate, under Democratic control, did not previously vote on the Laken Riley Act, with the shift to Republican control, a Senate version of the bill has been reintroduced. Notably, Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) has co-sponsored this effort, commenting, "Laken Riley’s story is a tragic reminder of what’s at stake when our systems fail to protect people. No family should have to endure the pain of losing a loved one to preventable violence."

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