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US President Donald Trump on Wednesday (local time) signed the first law of his second administration-- the Laken Riley Act. The legislation gives federal authorities broader power to detain and deport immigrants who are in the United States illegally and have been accused of certain crimes, including shoplifting. The President also announced that his administration is planning to send the "worst criminal aliens" to a detention centre in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
"It's a landmark law that we're doing today. It's going to save countless innocent American lives," Trump said from the White House after signing the Act.
The bipartisan act has been named after Riley, a 22-year-old Georgia nursing student who was murdered last year by a Venezuelan man in the US illegally.
Speaking at the ceremony that was attended by Riley's parents and sister, Trump said, "It's a tremendous tribute to your daughter what's taking place today, that's all I can say. It's so sad we have to be doing it."
The US President has pledged to crackdown on illegal immigration and increase deportation drastically, but at the signing, he said that some of the illegal migrants being sent to their home countries could not be trusted to stay there.
"Some of them are so bad that we don't even trust the countries to hold them because we don't want them coming back, so we're gonna send 'em out to Guantanamo," Trump said directing immigration officials to get facilities in Cuba ready to receive criminals.
"We have 30,000 beds in Guantanamo to detain the worst criminal aliens threatening the American people," he added.
Shortly After, the White House announced that the President had signed a memorandum on Guantanamo. The Guantanamo facility could hold "dangerous criminals" and people who are "hard to deport," Associated Press reported quitting a Trump administration official.
About Laken Riley Act
The Laken Riley Act is written by Republican Representative Mike Collins of Georgia. It requires US Immigration and Customs Enforcement to detain illegal immigrants in the US if they've been arrested for larceny, burglary, shoplifting, theft or assaulting a police officer. Under the act, an individual does not have to be convicted of the crime in court. Only the accusation of the crime could get them detained and deported.
Laken Riley Act by Fernando Cervantes
The act also includes a provision which allows the state attorneys general to sue the Department of Homeland Security if they consider their state or its residents are being harmed by immigration policies, potentially allowing the leaders of conservative states to help dictate immigration policy set by Washington.
"The bill directly addresses one of the federal policy failures related to Laken Riley's murder. Her murderer, Jose Ibarra, is an illegal alien who had been previously cited for shoplifting by the Athens Police Department. If local law enforcement had called ICE (US Immigration and Customs Enforcement), and ICE issued a detainer and picked him up, Laken would be alive," House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana said in a statement.
The act quickly passed the newly Republican-controlled Congress with some Democratic support even though opponents said it possibly could lead to large roundups of people for offenses as minor as shoplifting.
The swift passage, and Trump's quick signing of it, adds to the potent symbolism for conservatives. However, critics have pointed out that the measure has taken advantage of a tragedy and could lead to chaos and cruelty while doing little to fight crime or overhaul the immigration system.
Who Was Laken Riley
Laken Riley, a 22-year-old Georgia nursing student, was out for a run in February 2024 when she was killed by Jose Antonio Ibarra, a Venezuelan national who was in the country illegally. Ibarra was found guilty in November and sentenced to life without parole.
Ibarra had been arrested for illegal entry in September 2022 near El Paso, Texas, and released to pursue his case in immigration court. Federal officials say he was arrested by New York police in August 2023 for child endangerment and released. Police say he was also issued a citation for shoplifting in Georgia in October 2023.
Riley's mother, who attended the act's signing-in ceremony, thanked Trump. "He said he would secure our borders and he would never forget about Laken and he hasn't," she said.