President Donald Trump is poised to sign the first bill of his new administration, and it is named after a slain Georgia nursing student whose name became a rallying cry during his White House campaign.
If signed into law, the Laken Riley Act would require the detention of unauthorized immigrants accused of theft and violent crimes. The bill won bipartisan support in both the House and Senate.
Here are some things to know about the Laken Riley Act:
Riley, 22, was a student at Augusta University College of Nursing when she went out for a run on Feb. 22, 2024. Prosecutors said she was encountered by Jose Antonio Ibarra, who killed her during a struggle. Ibarra waived his right to a jury trial and was found guilty in November of murder and other crimes by a judge, who alone heard and decided the case. He was sentenced to life without parole.
Trump and other Republicans blamed former President Joe Biden for her death because Ibarra had been arrested for illegal entry in September 2022 near El Paso, Texas, amid an unprecedented surge in migration and released to pursue his case in immigration court.
”If this act had been the law of the land, he never would have had the opportunity to kill her,” said Rep. Mike Collins, a Georgia Republican.
Biden mentioned Riley during his State of the Union address last year as he spoke about border security and after U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene shouted at him, ”Say her name!”
