President Trump on Wednesday signed the Laken Riley Act into law, marking his first legislative victory since he returned to the White House after he campaigned on immigration and the border during his 2024 campaign.

The bill passed the House last week in a 263-156 vote, with 46 Democrats supporting it after the Senate approved the measure in a bipartisan 64-35 vote.

“This is a very important law, this is something that has brought Democrats and Republicans together. That’s not something that’s easy to do — Laken did it. Laken did it. America will never, ever forget Laken Hope Riley,” Trump said at the bill signing, calling it “a landmark law” that can “save countless innocent American lives.”

The bill requires the detention of a broad swath of migrants without legal status, including those permitted to enter the U.S. to seek asylum, if they have been accused of theft, burglary or shoplifting.

Some Democrats were in attendance at the White House for the bill signing, including Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.), who co-sponsored the legislation in the upper chamber.

Trump thanked the Republicans for voting for the bill, as well as the Democrats who voted across party lines and warned that those who didn’t vote for it “are going to be sorry.”

The president ran on targeting migrants who have committed crimes as one of his major campaign issues, which resonated with voters who wanted a crackdown on immigration.

The new law is named for Georgia nursing student Laken Riley, who was killed by a Venezuelan migrant who was arrested for shoplifting ahead of the attack after he was paroled into the country.

Riley’s parents and sister were also at the event, and her mother spoke before the bill signing, calling Trump “a man of his word.”

“Laken was a brilliant and beautiful 22-year-old nursing student from Georgia,” Trump said. “She was respected by everybody, even her teachers.”

He said her family “had a miserable period of time” after Riley was murdered during a jog on the University of Georgia campus. Trump said the Venezuelan migrant who killed her was “set loose into our country by the last administration” and was released after he was arrested three times in the U.S.

He also referenced the recent deportations that have taken place since he has been in office, adding, “we’re getting them the hell out of here.”

“As president, I’m fighting every single day to ensure that such a tragedy never happens again. We don’t want this to happen,” he said.

He outlined that the law also gives state governments the ability to sue the federal government for immediate injunctive relief to stop a future administration from refusing to enforce immigration laws, arguing that happened “for four long years” under former President Biden.

Cabinet members, including Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, were also in the audience for the bill signing. Also present were the families of other Americans who have been killed by people who recently entered the U.S. in the last several years.

“Many of the angel families here today were betrayed by the last administration and with its heartless and foolish and really very, very arrogant and very, very dumb policies, policies that aren’t really believable when you talk about common sense,” Trump said.

Also, during the bill signing, Trump announced he will sign an executive order to prepare Guantánamo Bay to “detain the worst criminal illegal aliens threatening the American people.”

Critics took issue with a provision in the law requiring a person to be detained after being charged for a crime, rather than after they are convicted. House GOP lawmakers first cleared the bill in March, less than a month after Riley was killed, but Democrats controlled the Senate at the time.

When the House approved the legislation again earlier this year, the Republican-controlled Senate took up a version of the bill that added amendments to include the assault of a law enforcement officer to the list of offenses that would lead to detainment and to include the detainment of migrants without legal status charged with crimes causing death or serious bodily injury.

Trump often spoke about Riley’s case on the campaign trail and her death became a flashpoint in politics over the election cycle, with Republicans blaming the Biden administration’s immigration efforts. When a Georgia judge in November charged Jose Ibarra, a 26-year-old migrant from Venezuela, for killing Riley, Trump weighed in and called the verdict “justice.”

“The Illegal who killed our beloved Laken Riley was just found GUILTY on all counts for his horrific crimes,” the president, who had won the election days earlier, said at the time.

Trump kept his promises on the campaign trail to target migrants, especially those who have committed crimes in the U.S. through a flurry of executive orders on day one of his return to the White House. 

Signing the Laken Riley law is part of Trump’s early moves on immigration. His executive orders have put a pause on refugee admissions, reinstated a program pairing local law enforcement with immigration agents, and declared a national emergency, clearing the way for greater use of active-duty military along the southern border and funneling resources to help build the border wall.

He also signed an order that deems migration an “invasion” and seeks to end asylum processing by deeming migrants a public health and national security threat.

Updated at 3:01 p.m. EST