Laken Riley Act Signed Into Law
Katherine Knott
January 30, 2025
President Trump signed the Laken Riley Act into law Wednesday, potentially putting the approval of some U.S. visas into the hands of state attorneys general.
The law, named for an Augusta University nursing student who was murdered last year in Athens, Ga., introduces harsher detention policies for people in the country without authorization and gives federal immigration officers more latitude in whom they can arrest and deport. The legislation passed the House and Senate with bipartisan support and is the first bill signed into law in Trump’s second term.
Some higher education policy experts raised alarm earlier this month about how the bill would affect international students and scholars studying in the U.S., along with those who seek to.
