Content warning: mentions of murder and violence.
Laken Riley, a 22-year-old nursing student, was murdered while jogging on the University of Georgia campus on February 22, 2024. She has been described by her family as a “strong person” who excelled at academics.
“She was smart, hardworking, kind, thoughtful, and most importantly, she was a child of God,” said her mother, Allyson Phillips.
Yet, this will not be how the name Laken Riley is remembered by the American public.
José Antonio Ibarra, an immigrant from Venezuela who entered the United States illegally, was convicted of her murder in November 2024. This sparked nationwide outrage stemming from the 61% of American voters believing illegal immigration to be one of the U.S.’s top priorities, according to Pew Research exit polls. Those same polls show that number skyrocketing to 82% among Republican voters, and now, with a Republican Congress and Presidency, this outrage is evolving into legislation.
In her rebuttal to the State of the Union address, Senator Katie Britt of Alabama referenced Riley, stating, “She was brutally murdered by one of the millions of illegal border crossers President Biden chose to release into our homeland.” Britt introduced H.R. 29 to the House on Jan. 6, 2025. H.R. 29 would be better known as the Laken Riley Act.
In its own words, this act is meant to require the Department of Homeland Security to “detain an individual who is unlawfully present in the United States or did not possess the necessary documents when applying for admission; and has been charged with, arrested for, convicted for, or admits to having committed acts that constitute the essential elements of burglary, theft, larceny, or shoplifting.”
The House approved the bill with a 263-156 vote and the Senate with a 64-35 vote. On Jan. 29, 2025, President Donald Trump passed the bill, marking this as the first law of his second administration.
The law mandates that anyone living in the U.S. illegally accused of low-level misdemeanors or more violent crimes can be detained and potentially deported without a trial or conviction. The law allows states to sue the federal government if this protocol is not followed. This effectively suspends habeas corpus for non-citizens.
“We’re seeing a fundamental erosion of civil rights in this bill. If a person is so much as accused of a crime, if someone wants to point a finger and accuse someone of shoplifting, they will be rounded up and put into a private detention camp and sent out for deportation without a day in court — without a moment to assert the privilege of innocent until proven guilty,” said Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in her House speech regarding the bill on Jan. 22, 2025.
Ocasio-Cortez also acknowledged the potential benefits for-profit private prisons could reap from the law.
According to a CREW analysis of campaign finance records, the private prison conglomerate CEO Group became the first corporation whose PAC reached capacity toward President Donald Trump’s campaign fund in February last year. The same month, one of the company’s subsidiaries donated a further $500,000 to Make America Great Again, a pro-Trump super PAC. CEO Group and other for-profit prison corporations, like CoreCivic, have consistently donated tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars to Republican campaigns since 2010. These investments paid off when private prison stock nearly doubled following the results of the 2024 election.
Trump began expanding the role of private prisons within his hard-line immigration policies when he reversed Biden’s Executive Order 14006. This order prevented the Justice Department from contracting with “Privately Operated Criminal Detention Facilities.” Additionally, Trump’s nominee for Attorney General, Pam Bondi, previously lobbied for CEO Group while working for her DC-based law firm. This pattern of aligning immigration law enforcement with for-profit prisons reinforces the administration’s commitment to expanding privatized detention.
Increasing the number of immigrants in detention will increase the profits of private prisons. This was seen during the first Trump administration when CEO Group and CoreCivic increased their stock prices by 45% and 61% in just one year by operating prison facilities for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
By eliminating the need for a trial, this law will, in effect, streamline the process of detaining immigrants, maximizing potential profits for private prisons to an unprecedented extent.
Many have spoken out against the bill, claiming it to be unconstitutional and fearing the effect these detention camps will have on due process as a whole. Others claim it to be a necessary measure to crack down on crime brought into the United States by way of immigration. However, the extent to which private prisons will benefit from the bill is undeniable.