Description
President Donald Trump on Wednesday will sign the Laken Riley Act into law as his administration's first piece of legislation. It mandates the detention and potential deportation of people in the U.S. illegally who are accused of theft and violent crimes before they've actually been convicted.
The measure swiftly passed the Republican-controlled Congress with some Democratic support, despite immigrants rights advocates decrying it as extreme enough to possibly trigger mass roundups of people for offenses as minor as shoplifting.
Trump has made a promised crackdown on illegal immigration unprecedented in the nation's history a centerpiece of his political career, however, and is now suggesting the law might only be the beginning.
The law is named for Laken Riley, a 22-year-old Georgia nursing student who went out for a run in February 2024 and was killed by Jose Antonio Ibarra, a Venezuelan national in the U.S. illegally. Ibarra was found guilty in November and sentenced to life without parole.
MORE: https://www.wthr.com/article/news/nation-world/trump-laken-riley-act-first-piece-of-legislation/507-696e1a2b-0438-43d0-88dc-4811b47d3ab0