Posted on Wednesday, January 29, 2025
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by Shane Harris
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After the tragic killing of nursing student Laken Riley last year became a rallying point for the backlash against the Biden border crisis, a bill bearing her name became the first piece of legislation that President Donald Trump signed into law on Wednesday afternoon.
The Laken Riley Act, which advanced through the House and Senate with bipartisan support, requires Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to detain illegal aliens arrested or charged with theft-related crimes or those accused of assaulting a police officer. The law also grants states the right to sue the Department of Homeland Security if illegal aliens victimize their citizens.
On February 22, 2024, Augusta University nursing student Laken Riley was jogging on the campus of the University of Georgia when she was brutally raped and murdered by Jose Ibarra, an illegal alien from Venezuela. Subsequent investigation revealed that Ibarra was known to authorities as crossing the border illegally in September 2022. He was freed into the country and had been arrested multiple times before killing Riley, including once for injuring a child. Each time, authorities released him.
Riley’s horrific murder became a symbol of the violence and chaos wrought by Democrat open borders policies. The first version of the Laken Riley Act passed the House in March 2024, but Senate Democrats ensured it never came up for a vote. Thanks to Republicans’ clean sweep last November, it was swiftly reintroduced and sent to Trump’s desk for signature this month.
The Laken Riley Act drew support from numerous outside organizations, including AMAC Action. Earlier this month, AMAC CEO and AMAC Action Chairwoman Rebecca Weber sent a letter to Congress urging swift passage of the bill, which she called “a vital step toward restoring public safety and the rule of law.”
During a moving signing ceremony in the packed East Room of the White House, Trump invited Laken Riley’s mother to speak on what passage of the bill means to her. “Our family will forever be grateful for the prayers of the people across our nation and for helping to get this legislation into law,” she said. “We also want to thank President Trump for the promises he made to us. He said he would secure our borders and that he would never forget about Laken. And he hasn’t. He is a man of his word. We trust that he will fight for the American people.”
The event was also attended by several other angel families who have lost loved ones to illegal aliens. Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman, a vocal supporter of the bill, was also in attendance, along with a handful of other Democrat legislators.
Signing the Laken Riley Act becomes just the latest action from President Donald Trump to secure the border and protect Americans from criminal illegal aliens in the first days of his second administration. Trump has also authorized the military to take action to secure the border, frozen refugee admissions, ordered federal agencies to criminalize illegal entry into the United States and deport illegal aliens, and designated drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations, among other actions. In addition, ICE and DHS have already begun deporting thousands of illegal aliens, prioritizing individuals with prior criminal convictions.
Those efforts are already showing positive results, with illegal border crossings plummeting from the astronomical numbers seen during the Biden administration.
“We will deport individuals based on the laws of this country. That’s all this administration is trying to do enforce our nation’s immigration laws,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on ABC’s Good Morning America ahead of the signing of the Laken Riley Act on Wednesday.
“So, if an individual is here illegally, if that means they cross our southern border illegally or they are overstaying their visa illegally, or they’ve been deported before and returned to the U.S. illegally, which we found in many instances, they will be subject to deportation,” she added.
The Laken Riley Act won’t ease the pain of the countless Americans who have suffered at the hands of illegal aliens who never should have been in the country in the first place. However, as Trump said, it will thankfully help prevent such tragedies from occurring in the future.
Shane Harris is the Editor-in-Chief of AMAC Newsline.
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