Senate Republicans are urging Democrats to consider the Laken Riley Act, a measure that would require federal immigration authorities to detain illegal immigrants charged with local theft or burglary. The bill was blocked for a second time this week, prompting a letter from 11 GOP senators to Senate Judiciary Committee chair Dick Durbin (D-Ill.). The measure is named after Laken Riley, a college nursing student who was abducted and killed in February while jogging on the campus of the University of Georgia. The suspect, Jose Antonio Ibarra, an illegal immigrant from Venezuela, has been charged in her murder. The Republicans argue that the murder was preventable if the Biden Administration had enforced federal immigration law. The Laken Riley Act would require U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to arrest and detain illegal immigrants who commit certain crimes. The bill has 47 co-sponsors in the Senate, including Montana Democrat Sen. Jon Tester, and was passed by the House in March.
