Rep. Mike Collins (R-GA) stated that the passage of the Laken Riley Act would bring justice and work to prevent other "brutal, senseless" murders of Americans by cartel members. Collins made the statement in an interview on the Martha Zoller Show on August 12.

"It's to make sure justice is done in this case," said Collins, U.S. Representative in Georgia. "That was a brutal murder, a senseless murder, could've been prevented and should've been prevented. Local law enforcement is not allowed to contact ICE to come in and pick people up unless there is a major crime, and in this case, it wound up being murder."

Twenty-two-year-old Laken Riley was killed in February while jogging on the campus of the University of Georgia, ABC News reported. Her killer was Jose Ibarra, an illegal migrant from Venezuela, who had been previously arrested in New York City on several charges of violent crime and then released.

According to Congress's official bill description, the Laken Riley Act, introduced in Congress on March 11 and sponsored by Rep. Mike Collins, would require non-citizens who have been arrested for any crime to be detained until the status of their citizenship can be determined. It would also allow states to sue for failed immigration enforcement, along with other specific provisions regarding the arrest and detainment of illegal migrants or non-citizens.

Members of Ibarra's family, including two of his brothers, have been discovered to be members of the violent Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, according to a report by the New York Post. All three brothers entered the United States illegally through the southwest border.

In his interview, Collins said that Laken Riley's murderer had been arrested for shoplifting and that if his citizenship had been allowed to be investigated, the murder would not have occurred.

Collins serves as U.S. Representative for Georgia's 10th District, according to his website.