House passes Kayla Hamilton bill despite 200 Democrats voting against it

The House of Representatives passed a bill on Tuesday that aims at bolstering screening for illegal migrants who come to the United States as unaccompanied minors, despite more than 200 Democrats voting against it.The Kayla Hamilton Act was passed in a 225-201 vote, which saw just seven Democrats join Republicans in passing the bill. The bill is named after a 20-year-old woman who was killed by a 16-year-old illegal migrant in 2022. 
The seven Democratic lawmakers are Reps. Adam Gray of California; Jared Golden of Maine; Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington; Don Davis of North Carolina; Vicente Gonzalez and Henry Cuellar of Texas; and Laura Gillen of New York.
Walter Javier Martinez, who came into the United States illegally as an unaccompanied minor from El Salvador, pleaded guilty to the murder in April and was part of the notorious MS-13 gang, according to Fox News.
The Kayla Hamilton Act was introduced by South Carolina GOP Rep. Russell Fry and would require the Health and Human Services Department to screen unaccompanied minors for gang tattoos and place minors with gang markings in secure federal facilities instead of releasing them to a sponsor.
“I think in this one instance, a simple phone call to El Salvador would have kept him in a secure facility,” Frye told the outlet. “An eyeball check on gang tattoos on his body would have kept him in the secure facility, because he had both. He would never have been on our streets.”
The legislation also bans unaccompanied minors from being placed with illegal migrants and requires the government to conduct background checks on all adults in the minor’s new household. 
The bill will still need to pass the Republican-led Senate.
Misty Severi is a news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage. 

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