The U.S. House of Representatives recently passed the Laken Riley Act, a bill that broadens the basis for deporting undocumented immigrants accused of nonviolent crimes such as shoplifting. The bill passed by a vote of 264 to 159, with the support of 48 Democrats who joined the Republicans, evidencing a growing bipartisan support for stricter immigration policies, according to the Texas Tribune.

Among the Democrats who voted in favor were Henry Cuellar and Vicente Gonzalez, representatives of Texas, a state historically impacted by immigration issues. The next step will be the vote in the Senate, where Republicans, with 53 seats, will need to win the support of at least seven Democrats to pass the measure.

The proposal was named after Laken Riley, a nursing student murdered in 2024 by José Antonio Ibarra, a Venezuelan immigrant who had entered the US illegally in 2022 and, months before the crime, was arrested for shoplifting at a Walmart, but later released. Riley's case has become a symbol used by conservative lawmakers to justify the need for tougher laws against undocumented immigrants, even as studies show that immigrants, in general, commit crimes at a lower rate than native-born citizens. According to Alex Nowrasteh of the Cato Institute, the incarceration rate of undocumented immigrants in Georgia for homicide is 61 per 100,000 people, lower than the rate of 90 per 100,000 recorded among U.S. citizens and legal immigrants. Nowrasteh argues that the evidence does not support the thesis that undocumented immigrants pose a disproportionate threat to public safety, nor that mass deportation policies would significantly reduce crime rates.

Still, Riley's murder sparked a strong political backlash, prompting the House to pass the bill, which expands immigration enforcement by requiring U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to detain undocumented immigrants charged with minor crimes. The proposed legislation also allows state attorneys general to sue the federal government if authorities release immigrants who entered the country illegally and then committed new crimes. This represents a significant expansion of state authority over immigration policy, traditionally controlled by the federal government.

The bill has generated strong opposition from pro-immigrant groups and most Democrats, who consider it a discriminatory measure masquerading as a public safety initiative. Kerri Talbot, co-executive director of the MigrationHub, called the proposal an opportunistic political use of a tragedy to push an anti-immigrant agenda. She argued that the bill "weaponizes the justice system" to disproportionately punish immigrants for minor offenses, destroys families and empowers extremists who want to reshape immigration policy from a punitive perspective, according to the Texas Tribune.

Currently, the legislation already allows the deportation of immigrants, including lawful permanent residents, convicted of serious or violent crimes, such as drug possession and driving under the influence of alcohol. However, the Laken Riley Act seeks to expand this policy by including nonviolent crimes such as theft or petty theft, which critics say would create an environment of unnecessary persecution against immigrants already living in vulnerable situations. In addition, the proposal reflects a broader shift in the U.S. immigration approach, aligning with the hardline immigration agenda championed by Donald Trump, which includes mass deportations of millions of undocumented immigrants living in the country.