The House of Representatives on Thursday passed the Laken Riley Act, which would require federal immigration authorities to detain illegal immigrants charged with local theft or burglary, after a migrant accused of similar offenses was arrested for the murder of an American college student.
The act, which was passed by a 251-170 vote, is named after 22-year-old Laken Riley, a college nursing student who was recently killed on the campus of the University of Georgia.
Jose Antonio Ibarra, the illegal immigrant from Venezuela charged with the brutal murder, was arrested in New York prior to the murder, but was not detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
