There's a popular mantra among skeptics of government power that goes like this: If a law is named after a person, it's probably bad.
Usually pegged to a victim whose story is genuinely tragic, and for whom compassion is warranted, such legislation often gives lawmakers license to enact authoritarian policies while using a bill's raw emotional packaging as both a shield from criticism and as ammunition to criticize those who don't get on board.
The Laken Riley Act, which moved closer to passing the Senate on Friday, is no exception. Drafted in response to the death of Laken Riley, a Georgia nursing student murdered last year by an unlawful immigrant named Jose Ibarra, the bill has become a grab bag of draconian policies that have little, if anything, to do with Riley's death, but will likely soon be enshrined into law in her name.
