With an assist from Democrats, Sen. Katie Britt’s, R-Ala., Laken Riley Act advanced Thursday in the U.S. Senate, although the legislation inspired by the Georgia nursing student murdered by an undocumented migrant faces an uncertain fate.

“Tomorrow, Laken Riley would have been 23 years old. Her killer should have never been able to be in the U.S., especially after being charged with multiple crimes,” Britt said at a news conference shortly after the bill secured enough votes to survive a filibuster.

“Her murder is actually he consequence of Biden-Harris open border policies.”

The act — the first piece of legislation taken up by the new Republican Senate majority and the first bill passed by the GOP-led House — would require U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to arrest undocumented immigrants charged with theft, burglary, larceny or shoplifting offenses and mandate those suspects be detained until they are deported so they cannot reoffend.

Riley’s killer, undocumented Venezuelan national Jose Antonio Ibarra, had been arrested multiple times once in the United States but was released each time before ICE could put a detainer on him.

On Feb. 22, 2024, Riley was jogging on the University of Georgia campus in Athens when she was killed by Ibarra.

Britt introduced the bill in the Senate last year but was stalled under Democratic control.

Alabama’s junior senator said President-elect Donald Trump’s victory in November, boosted in large part by the GOP’s position on immigration, made Democrats realize that their views on the issue are incompatible with majority of the American people.

“We’re listening to the American people, and it seems like some of my Democratic colleagues are also hearing the American people today,” Britt said. “They know their open border policies will not work.”

While several Democrats, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York, voted to advance the bill, it remains unclear whether the legislation can pass in a final vote.

Britt said she and her Republican colleagues — all of whom cosponsored the bill — remain open to amendments to guide the bill to final passage but remains optimistic it doesn’t need tinkering.

“I think my Democratic colleagues have heard the American people, and so I think that they understand that we need action now. And so it would be my thoughts that we could likely pass this right now,” she said.

“If the people keep their word and people are true to their constituencies, and they actually put the needs of them first,” the senator continued, “it would be my hope that we could pass it right now.”