Georgia House GOP Passes Bill That Allows For Arrest Of Anyone Suspected Of Being An Illegal Immigrant After Campus Murder Of Laken Riley

The Georgia State House passed a bill that makes it easier for police to arrest suspected illegal immigrants.

The bill would make it easier for police departments to identify and arrest undocumented immigrants. Under the proposed law, sheriffs must report to federal authorities if someone they arrest does not have documentation. Local governments could lose state funding if they don’t report such cases.

The state House voted 97-74 for House Bill 1105, which was sponsored by state Rep. Jesse Petrea (R).

The bill comes after Laken Riley, an Augusta University nursing student, was beaten to death by an undocumented immigrant. On February 22, she was found dead in the woods on the University of Georgia’s campus after her roommate called the police, reporting that she did not return from a morning run. The man accused of the crime is a Venezuelan migrant Jose Ibarra, who crossed into the U.S. illegally in 2022.

After crossing the border, Ibarra was residing in New York until he was arrested for child endangerment of his five-year-old son. According to ICE, before he could be taken into custody, “he was released by the NYPD before a detainer could be issued.” After this incident, he moved to Georgia, where Riley’s murder occurred.

Petrea has been working on this bill for some time, but Riley’s death pushed the bill to the top of the agenda.

Many Democrats argued that passing the bill could keep people detained for longer periods and cause the separation of families. Republicans, on the other hand, have called out the Biden administration for not enforcing existing immigration laws.

The bill is awaiting a vote in the state Senate, where passage seems likely.

At President Joe Biden‘s State of the Union address in February, controversial right-wing Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Georgia) heckled the president and demanded that he say Riley’s name.