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Laken Riley
The Laken Riley Act is named after the 22-old University of Georgia student who was murdered by an illegal immigrant in February 2024. Its passage would allow law enforcement to detain illegal immigrants who commit theft related crimes, hopefully preventing tragedies like Riley's in the future.
Thankfully, it passed the House on Tuesday. Every Republican voted for it.
But 159 Democrats did not.
Which is insane.
The bill is expected to get a procedural vote in the Senate on Friday.
How will Democrats vote?
We can expect many Democrats to oppose it as they did in the House.
But the two senators from Riley's home state of Georgia, Democratic Sens. Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, haven't said anything about the bill.
Pure silence.
The Daily Caller reached out "to every Democratic lawmaker on whether they back the Laken Riley Act’s passage."
After multiple attempts, the outlet reported, "Democratic Georgia Sens. Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock have notably refrained from expressing support for the bill despite Riley previously being one of their constituents."
"An Ossoff spokesperson referred the DCNF to a statement the senator gave to CNN yesterday that he will vote to advance the bill during a procedural vote. The spokesperson did not address the DCNF’s inquiry about whether the senator supports the bill in its current form and will ultimately vote for the Laken Riley Act’s passage," the Caller noted.
So Ossoff's office couldn't give a straight answer - or any answer - on his support, or lack of, of the bill.
Warnock's office didn't even reply.
The Laken Riley Act is sponsored by the entire Senate Republican conference.
It is also sponsored by two Democrats senators, John Fetterman and Ruben Gallego.
So Democrats supporting this bill is not without precedent. 48 House Democrats voted for it.
But the two senators who used to represent the late Ms. Riley?
Nothing.
When Sen. Warnock was asked about this issue in March, he told CNN that it was just Republicans "trying to score cheap political points."
Republican Georgia Congressman Mike Collins disagrees.
A lead sponsor of the bill, Collins told the Caller, “The Laken Riley Act is good bipartisan legislation that will save lives and bring justice to a young woman who was killed by an illegal criminal. I do not know how any elected official, whether in the House or Senate, can go back to their constituents and tell them that they voted to keep dangerous criminals in their communities.”
Collins added, “If there are any two U.S. Senators in our country that should vote ‘Yes’ on the Laken Riley Act it is Senators Warnock and Ossoff. She [Laken Riley] was their constituent, and she would still be alive today if this legislation had been in place.”
Riley's murderer, Jose Antonio Ibarra of Venezuela, had a prior criminal record, arrested for shoplifting in 2022.
Under this act, law enforcement could have contained him.
So Rep. Mike Collins has a point. So does every member of Congress behind this bill.
And it is a very important point. One that Georgia's two Democratic senators can't even be bothered to comment on.