ATLANTA — The U.S. Senate is expected to vote on the Laken Riley Act Thursday afternoon and at least one of Georgia’s Senators has confirmed they’ll vote to pass the bill.
On Tuesday, Channel 2 Action News reported when the legislation to add further restrictions to undocumented migrants in the United States passed the House on mainly partisan lines, with 251 votes for it and 170 against.
The vote breakdown was all of the House Republicans and 48 Democrats voting to pass the bill.
A vote by the U.S. Senate is expected to happen around 3 p.m. Thursday.
[DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks]
Georgia Rep. Mike Collins introduced the legislation last year, and reintroduced it for the 119th Congress, aimed at addressing what he said were failures of the Biden administration’s border policies in response to Laken Riley’s death in Athens in February 2024. She was killed on the University of Georgia campus while jogging.
In terms of what the legislation actually does, the bill would have the U.S. Department of Homeland Security detain non-U.S. nationals arrested on suspicion of burglary, theft, larceny or shoplifting.
Additionally, the bill creates a provision for the various attorneys general of the 50 states and the District of Columbia to sue the federal government for decisions or alleged failures to enforce immigration law, according to the legislative text.
RELATED STORIES:
- Laken Riley Act passes U.S. House nearly 1 year after nursing student murdered on UGA campus
- Laken Riley murder: Jose Ibarra found guilty, sentenced to life in prison without parole
- Laken Riley murder case: Jose Ibarra waives right to jury trial, asks for bench trial
- Judge denies motion to suppress evidence for Laken Riley’s accused killer ahead of trial
- Five requests defense team has made in Laken Riley’s murder case
- Laken Riley murder case: Attorneys for Jose Ibarra ask judge to throw out evidence
DHS must also detain individuals in the U.S. unlawfully or who do not have the necessary documents with them to apply for admission into the country, as well as any charged with, arrested for, or who have admitted to committing acts that “constitute the essential elements or burglary, theft, larceny or shoplifting.”
Individual Americans can also sue the government for financial harms of more than $100 if they stem from associated acts of undocumented migrants, according to the bill.
Soon after the bill passed the U.S. House of Representatives, Laken Riley’s family shared a statement via Collins endorsing the bill’s passage and reflecting on the loss of their daughter.
“The Laken Riley Act has our full support because it would help save innocent lives and prevent more families from going through the kind of heartbreak we’ve experienced. Laken would have been 23 on January 10th. There is no greater gift that could be given to her and our country than to continue her legacy by saving lives through this bill. Every single member of Congress should be able to get behind this purely common sense bill that will make our communities safer,” her family’s statement said in part.
As far as the likelihood of passage in the upper chamber of Congress, it’s unclear what the result of the vote will be. The legislation will need 60 votes to pass in the Senate.
On Tuesday, only Democratic Senator, John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, has endorsed the bill and said he’d vote for it. In the days since, several others have said they will vote for the measure, including Arizona Sens. Ruben Gallego, who co-sponsored the legislation in the Senate.
In the Senate, the vote is complicated by the recent election. Sen.-elect Jim Justice of West Virginia, who won election to the seat vacated by Joe Manchin, won’t be in office at the Senate until at least Jan. 13. That means Republicans need to convince at least six more Democrats to vote in favor of the bill, in addition to Fetterman and Gallego.
According to reporting by Politico, Sens. Mark Kelly of Arizona, Jakcy Rosen of Nevada, Tammy Duckworth of Illinois, Gary Peters of Michigan, John Hickenlooper of Colorado, Angus King of Main and Jon Ossoff of Georgia have said they plan to vote to advance the Laken Riley Act in the Senate, which would set it up for a debate on the Senate floor.
A spokesperson for Sen. Ossoff confirmed to Channel 2 Action News that he plans to vote in favor of the bill, saying “Sen. Ossoff supports the Laken Riley Act and plans to vote for it.”
Channel 2 Action News received the following statement from Sen. Rev. Raphael Warnock’s office:
“As a pastor and a voice for Georgians in the Senate, I continue to pray for Laken Riley’s family and friends who are still grieving her loss. I’m voting to begin floor debate on the Laken Riley Act because I believe the people of Georgia want their lawmakers in Washington to address the issues in this legislation. I look forward to continuing to discuss this bill with my colleagues, and I welcome a serious bipartisan conversation about what we need to do to fix our broken immigration system to keep Georgians safe and prevent another senseless tragedy.”
[SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter]
©2025 Cox Media Group
