The Laken Riley Act became the first bill signed into law by President Donald Trump’s new administration on Jan. 29.

The Act was named after Laken Riley, an Athens-Clarke County resident and Augusta University School of Nursing student who was killed by José Antonio Ibarra, an undocumented migrant from Venezuela on Feb. 22, 2024, on the University of Georgia’s campus.

According to the Department of Homeland Security, this law mandates the detainment of all undocumented immigrants arrested for theft, burglary, assaulting a police officer, and any crime that results in death or serious injury.

“Our hope moving forward is that her life saves lives,” Allyson Phillips, the mother of Laken Riley, said at the law’s signing at the White House on Jan. 29.

Athens-Clarke County Mayor Kelly Girtz has been involved with events relating to Riley since her murder last year. In an interview before the signing of the Laken Riley Act, Girtz spoke about his thoughts on the law.

“A really tragic incident, in this case the brutal murder of Laken Riley, has been used as pretext for what is an upending of what we have come to understand as due process,” Girtz said. “I don’t think that the initial desire was met by legal language parallel to that desire.”

Shortly after the signing of the act, the University of Georgia President Jere W. Morehead announced his approval of an additional $1.7 million for campus security projects in the 2025 State of University Address.

“We are constantly reviewing further initiatives to ensure that we provide a safe and secure campus environment,” Morehead said.

Erin Pagenkopf a senior majoring in journalism at the University of Georgia.