U.S. Sen. Katie Britt (R-Montgomery) recently spoke from the Senate floor, imploring her colleagues to pass the Laken Riley Act after it was prevented from receiving a floor vote for the second time in a row.
The Laken Riley Act would require U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to arrest illegal aliens who commit theft, burglary, larceny or shoplifting offenses and would mandate that these aliens be detained until they are removed from the United States so they cannot commit further crimes.
The bill's name comes from the February abduction and murder of Laken Riley, who was an undergraduate student at the Augusta University nursing school and a former student at the University of Georgia. The suspect in the case is a 26-year-old illegal immigrant, Jose Antonio Ibarra, from Venezuela, who police say abducted her while she was jogging on the UGA campus. Police previously released Ibarra after charging him with shoplifting.
The House of Representatives passed the bill on March 7, but Senate Democrats blocked it from receiving a floor vote a week later, an action they took again on Thursday.
Britt, the lead Senate sponsor of the bill, took the floor on Thursday, joined by U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), to call for the Senate to finally pass the legislation.
"I’m confident that a bipartisan majority of Senators support the Laken Riley Act and would vote for it today,” Britt said. “The House already did its work in a bipartisan fashion on this legislation, and now, it’s our turn here in the Senate. And frankly, it’s well past time. We should send this bipartisan bill to the President’s desk immediately. If this bill had been the law of the land, Laken Riley would still be alive today. Now, this body has an opportunity — and a responsibility, in my opinion — to prevent this kind of unimaginable tragedy happening to more families across America.”
She continued, “Under the Trump administration and the Obama administration, parole was granted at our southern border on average (to) less than 6,000 people per year. However, under President Biden, grants of parole have skyrocketed, and now we know over 1.3 million people have been paroled in the past year. One of those grants of parole went to Laken Riley’s alleged killer after he crossed the southern border illegally in 2022. This abuse of parole continues to have devastating consequences for families and communities in every corner of our nation. President Biden could stop this abuse of parole today if he wanted to. But he doesn’t, and he won’t. This President refuses to reverse course. It’s past time to force his hand on that, and past time to pass the Laken Riley Act. It will secure our homeland, it will help to safeguard our streets, it will help defend our families.”
To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email craig.monger@1819news.com.
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