Michigan Rep. Elissa Slotkin voted to effectively stop the Laken Riley Act by voting against the rules for consideration of the bill on Wednesday. The rules for consideration, however, passed, bringing the bill to a vote.

She ultimately voted for the bill, which moved forward to the U.S. Senate on Thursday.

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The bill is named after 22-year-old nursing student Laken Riley, who was murdered while jogging on the University of Augusta campus in Athens, Ga., by Jose Antonio Ibarra, an illegal Venezuelan immigrant who had already had several brushes with the law. Riley died after suffering blunt force trauma to the head inflicted by Ibarra.

The bill would require the detention and deportation of illegal immigrants arrested after committing a crime.

Previously this year Slotkin, a candidate for U.S. Senate, pledged to take up the immigration issue in a nonpartisan fashion.

“I took on immigration in my first floor speech of the New Year because it’s a critical, American issue and top of mind for so many Americans – and now a live issue being debated at the Capitol. I wanted to make clear that I’m willing to talk with anyone – Democrat or Republican – who wants to conduct common-sense negotiations. I’m willing to make progress, even if it’s not popular and even if plans are imperfect. And the truth is there’s a lot of bipartisan ideas out there. But we have to be honest that our immigration system is broken because of partisanship, because all sides – members of the House, the Senate and the White House – are pointing fingers at everybody else. There is a way out of this mess. It’s the same thing our constituents do every day, they go to work, they have negotiations, not everyone is happy, but they come up with a compromise,” Slotkin said in January.

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Despite opposition by Democrats, the bill passed the House by a 251-170 vote. Only one Republican lawmaker voted against the bill. Seven members of the House did not vote.

Following the vote, House Speaker Mike Johnson posted on X, formerly Twitter, warned that, if Democrats who voted against the bill had their way, there’d be “more victims like Laken Riley.”

170 House Democrats just voted against the Laken Riley Act, refusing to require the detention and deportation of illegal immigrants who have been caught committing a crime.
 
Sadly, if these Democrats have their way, there will be more victims like Laken Riley. https://t.co/SWOlvwzBVv

— Speaker Mike Johnson (@SpeakerJohnson) March 7, 2024

The bill was introduced by Rep. Mike Collins, R-Ga.

“The senseless murder of Laken Riley by Jose Ibarra, who had no business being in this country, was another wakeup call as Americans experience an illegal alien crime wave because of Joe Biden’s open border and local sanctuary city policies,” Collins told Fox News Digital. “I now urge the Senate to take up this bill immediately.”

This article has been edited since its initial publication to reflect that Rep. Slotkin ultimately voted for the Laken Riley Act.