The U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation on Tuesday targeting undocumented immigrants for deportation if they’re charged with nonviolent crimes such as shoplifting.
The Laken Riley Act passed on a 264-159 vote, with 48 Democrats joining Republicans — including Texas Democratic Reps. Henry Cuellar of Laredo and Vicente Gonzalez of McAllen. The proposed law now goes to the Senate on Friday, where Republicans hold the majority. Republicans control 53 seats and need seven Senate Democrats to vote in favor for the bill to pass.
The bill is named after Laken Riley, a 22-year-old Augusta University nursing student in Georgia who was killed in February 2024 by José Antonio Ibarra, a 26-year-old Venezuelan man who crossed the U.S.-Mexico border through El Paso in 2022.
Months before the killing, Ibarra was arrested on a shoplifting charge at a Georgia Walmart but was later released.
Ibarra was convicted in Riley’s killing and was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole in November.
“The death of Laken Riley was a senseless and preventable tragedy, and now that her murderer is behind bars, we owe it to Laken to do everything we can to ensure any migrant who enters the country illegally and commits a crime is never given the opportunity to harm innocent Americans,” U.S. Sen. John Cornyn of Texas said in a statement.
Even though studies show that recent immigrants in the United States commit crimes at a lower rate than U.S.-born citizens, Riley’s murder became a rallying cry for conservative lawmakers to adopt stricter immigration laws.
According to an analysis by Alex Nowrasteh — the vice president for economic and social policy studies at the libertarian think tank Cato Institute — undocumented immigrants in Georgia are incarcerated for homicide at a rate of 61 per 100,000 people, compared to 90 per 100,000 for legal immigrants and U.S. citizens.
“The numbers indicate that illegal immigrants are not a disproportionate criminal threat, they do not increase crime rates, and extra enforcement of normal immigration laws will not lower crime rates,” Nowrasteh wrote in his analysis.
Last year, when an identical bill was introduced in the House, 37 Democrats voted in favor of the bill, including three Texas Democrats.
The jump in support from Democrats this year signifies some Democrats’ willingness to support President-elect Donald Trump’s immigration agenda — which includes mass deportations of the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants in the U.S.
Currently, any immigrant — including legal U.S. permanent residents — who commits serious or violent crimes — such as aggravated felonies, drug possession or drunk driving — can be arrested and eventually deported. However, the current proposal looks to widen the deportation pipeline by requiring U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to detain undocumented immigrants accused of less serious crimes such as burglary, theft, larceny or shoplifting.
The proposal also allows state attorneys general to sue the federal government if federal authorities release an immigrant who entered the U.S. illegally and later goes on to commit other crimes.
A majority of Democrats and immigrant rights groups criticized the bill, saying that it is an anti-immigrant proposal disguised as a public safety measure.
“This is political gamesmanship at its worst, planting a trap for lawmakers by exploiting a tragedy,” said Kerri Talbot, co-executive director of the Immigration Hub, a national organization that advocates for fair immigration policies. “This bill weaponizes the justice system to incarcerate immigrants for minor infractions, empowers extremists to rewrite immigration policy, and tears apart families who have long called this country home.”
This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune, a member-supported, nonpartisan newsroom informing and engaging Texans on state politics and policy.
