WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Thom Tillis and his colleagues recently introduced the Laken Riley Act, legislation which would require U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to arrest illegal immigrants who commit theft, burglary, larceny, or shoplifting offenses and would mandate that these aliens are detained until they are removed from the United States. The legislation also empowers state attorneys general to sue the Secretary of Homeland Security for taking actions on immigration that harm their states or their citizens.

“Laken Riley’s murder was entirely preventable and was a direct result of Biden’s disastrous open border policies,” said Senator Tillis. “No family should ever have to experience the senseless murder of a child because President Biden refuses to secure the border and enforce our laws. This common-sense legislation ensures that ICE detains and ultimately deports criminal illegal immigrants rather than let them continue to threaten our communities.”

The bill is named after 22-year-old University of Georgia nursing student Laken Riley, who was murdered by an illegal immigrant on campus last month - the illegal immigrant had been previously cited for theft and shoplifting but was released. The House of Representatives passed the bill on March 7, 2024 in a bipartisan vote of 251-70 including 37 Democrats.

Full text of the bill is available HERE.

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