On Wednesday, President Trump signed the Laken Riley Act into law, his first legislative victory since returning to the White House after campaigning on immigration and the border in 2024.
The bill passed the House 263-156 last week, with 46 Democrats voting in favor, following the Senate’s bipartisan 64-35 approval.
“This is an important law, and it has brought Democrats and Republicans together. That is not easy to do, but Laken did it. Laken did it. “America will never, ever forget Laken Hope Riley,” Trump said during the bill signing, calling it “a landmark law” that has the potential to “save countless innocent American lives.”
The bill requires the detention of a large number of undocumented migrants, including those permitted to enter the United States to seek asylum, if they are accused of theft, burglary, or shoplifting.
Some Democrats were present at the White House for the bill signing, including Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.), who co-sponsored the legislation in the upper chamber.
Trump thanked Republicans for supporting the bill, as well as Democrats who crossed party lines, and warned that those who did not vote for it “will be sorry.”
Targeting migrants who have committed crimes was one of the president’s major campaign issues, which resonated with voters who wanted to tighten immigration restrictions.
The new law is named after Georgia nursing student Laken Riley, who was killed by a Venezuelan migrant arrested for shoplifting prior to the attack after being paroled into the country.
Riley’s parents and sister were also present, and her mother spoke before the bill signing, describing Trump as “a man of his word.”
“Laken was a brilliant and beautiful 22-year-old nursing student from Georgia,” Mr. Trump said. “She was respected by everybody, even her teachers.”
He said Riley’s family “had a miserable period of time” after she was murdered while jogging on the University of Georgia campus. The Venezuelan migrant who killed her was “set loose into our country by the last administration” and was released after being arrested three times in the United States, according to Trump.
He also mentioned the recent deportations that have occurred since he took office, saying, “We are getting them the hell out of here.”
“As president, I fight every day to ensure that such a tragedy does not occur again. “We do not want this to happen,” he explained.
He also stated that the law allows state governments to sue the federal government for immediate injunctive relief to prevent a future administration from refusing to enforce immigration laws, claiming that this occurred “for four long years” under former President Biden.
Cabinet members, including Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, attended the bill signing. Families of other Americans killed by recent immigrants were also present.
“Many of the angel families here today were betrayed by the last administration and with its heartless and foolish and really very, very arrogant and very, very dumb policies, policies that are not really believable when you talk about common sense,” claimed Trump.
Trump also announced during the bill signing that he will sign an executive order to prepare Guantánamo Bay to “detain the worst criminal illegal aliens threatening the American people.”
Critics criticized a provision in the law that requires a person to be detained after being charged with a crime, rather than after being convicted. House Republicans first approved the bill in March, less than a month after Riley’s death, but Democrats controlled the Senate at the time.
When the House approved the legislation again earlier this year, the Republican-controlled Senate took up a version of the bill that included amendments to add assault on a law enforcement officer to the list of offenses that would result in detention, as well as the detention of migrants without legal status charged with crimes resulting in death or serious bodily injury.
Trump frequently mentioned Riley’s case on the campaign trail, and her death became a political flashpoint throughout the election cycle, with Republicans blaming the Biden administration’s immigration policies.
In November, when a Georgia judge charged Jose Ibarra, a 26-year-old Venezuelan migrant, with Riley’s murder, Trump weighed in, calling the verdict “justice.”
“The Illegal who killed our beloved Laken Riley was just found GUILTY on all counts for his horrific crimes,” the president, who had won the election days before, said at the time.
Trump kept his campaign promises to target migrants, particularly those who have committed crimes in the United States, by issuing a flurry of executive orders on his first day back in the White House.
Signing the Laken Riley Act is one of Trump’s first moves on immigration. His executive orders have halted refugee admissions, reinstated a program that pairs local law enforcement with immigration agents, and declared a national emergency, paving the way for increased use of active-duty military personnel along the southern border and redirecting resources to help build the border wall.
He also signed an order declaring migration a “invasion” and attempting to halt asylum processing by classifying migrants as a public health and national security threat.