It took Georgia lawmakers just over a month after an illegal immigrant was arrested in connection with the murder of a University of Georgia student to tighten the state’s immigration laws, approving a measure this week aimed at preventing another tragedy.

“I think this truly is a common-sense measure,” Republican state Rep. Houston Gaines, who represents the Athens community where the murder occurred, told The New York Times. “What we’re talking about is individuals who are in the country illegally that have committed offenses, additional criminal offenses, and making sure that those individuals are held accountable.”

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Venezuelan Jose Antonio Ibarra was arrested at the border for illegally entering the United States in 2022, but was released into the country under Biden administration policies that ended last year. He was arrested again in New York, and a third time in Georgia in October, before authorities allege he abducted and murdered 22-year-old nursing student Laken Riley as she jogged near the University of Georgia campus on Feb. 22.

Republican Gov. Brian Kemp linked the “inexcusable and avoidable murder” to Biden administration policies that illustrate “an unwillingness by this White House to secure the southern border,” while lawmakers in the Georgia General Assembly took action.

Amid the conclusion of the 2024 legislative session on Thursday, Georgia lawmakers approved the Georgia Criminal Alien Track and Report Act on a vote of 34-19 in the Senate and 99-75 in the House, sending the measure to Kemp’s desk to become law.

House Bill 1105, sponsored by Savannah Republican Rep. Jesse Petrea, requires local jails to notify Immigrations and Customs Enforcement if a person detained in undocumented, and imposes penalties for jurisdictions with “immigration sanctuary policies,” Axios Atlanta reports.

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“I don’t believe anyone in law enforcement believes that’s too much to ask,” Petrea said, according to the Christian Index.

Terry Norris, executive director of the Georgia Sheriffs’ Association, told the Times the legislation codifies what most law enforcement agencies in the state are already doing, while providing penalties that include the loss of state and federal funds to force compliance.

“It is an expansion of the existing law,” Norris said. “It has more teeth.”

While a violent murder allegedly perpetrated by an illegal immigrant prompted Republicans in Georgia to improve the state’s immigration laws, Democrats facing a similar situation in Michigan have yet to acknowledge how the Biden administration’s border policies are putting the state’s residents at risk.

For months, Michigan Republicans have urged Democratic leaders in the legislature to hold a hearing on legislation that would ban sanctuary policies that prohibit locals from cooperating with federal immigration officials.

House Republican Leader Matt Hall this week renewed those calls following the murder of Ruby Garcia, a 25-year-old Grand Rapids woman allegedly killed last Friday by Brandon Ortiz-Vite, who was deported by the Trump administration in 2020 following a string of crimes.

Michigan State Police contend Ortiz-Vite, 25, shot Garcia multiple times with an illegally purchased handgun before dumping the woman’s body on U.S. 131 and fleeing in her car. Ortiz-Vite, who was arrested on Sunday, now faces numerous charges, including potential life sentences for open murder and carjacking.

Michigan State Police allege Ortiz-Vite, who was in a romantic relationship with Garcia, confessed to the murder.

“Rogue politicians in Michigan communities put public safety at even greater risk when they refuse to work with federal officers trying to apprehend illegals,” Hall said in a statement. “These sanctuary cities and counties invite proven criminals, like Ruby’s killer, to come where they can hide from deportation even if they’re arrested for another crime. Disastrous sanctuary policies impede the work of federal immigration officials and exacerbate the public safety crisis.”

Despite the gruesome scene in Grand Rapids, Democrats in Lansing have refused to hold a hearing on Hall’s House Bill 4880 to ban sanctuary polices for counties, or House Bill 4879, sponsored by Cheboygan Republican Rep. Cam Cavitt, to do the same for cities, villages, and townships.

Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and her allies in the legislature, meanwhile, have yet to acknowledge Ruby Garcia’s death, opting instead to focus on promoting abortion, Oberon beer, and Women’s History Month.

Michigan state Rep. Andrew Fink, R-Adams Township, who has also introduced legislation to ban sanctuary jurisdictions, noted Democrats’ refusal to discuss the proposal comes as they’re promoting a Newcomer Rental Subsidy to direct $500 per month in taxpayer funds to Michiganders willing to house migrants.

“An illegal immigrant is accused of murdering a young woman during a carjacking attempt in Michigan last week, and rather than focusing on border security and safe communities, the Whitmer administration appears to be focused on covering up our state’s population loss by subsidizing housing for not only refugees but anyone who has filed an application for asylum, over half of which are routinely rejected,” Fink told The Midwesterner.

“While we should be adopting policies like my legislation prohibiting sanctuary cities, the governor’s administration continues to move in the opposite direction by making Michigan more inviting to criminals,” he said. “These policies have consequences, and we are tragically seeing them manifest more often in our state.”