Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., in a heated moment pushed into an immigrant rights activist during a Senate hearing on the “Remain in Mexico” policy Thursday because what he said amounted to trivializing the murder of Laken Riley and because you say that migrant crime is “not a real problem”.
“In March 2024, you wrote: ‘The murder of a nursing student in Georgia is causing many people on the right to talk about immigrant crime as if it were a real problem,’” said Hawley.
Riley was a 22-year-old nursing student at Augusta University who was found dead on the University of Georgia campus in February. Jose Ibarraa 26-year-old illegal immigrant, was found guilty of a total of ten charges, including murder. He initially pleaded not guilty, but was ultimately sentenced in November to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
“Here’s Laken Riley,” Hawley said as her photo was placed behind him. “Her murder, her heinous murder at the hands of this illegal migrant who was also unlawfully paroled in the United States. (Is) her death not an actual problem?”
LAKEN RILEY ACT OVERCOMES FILIBUSTER IN SENATE AS DEMS GIVE GOP HELPING HAND
Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., questions an expert invited by Democrats about his statements on Laken Riley’s murder during a hearing on the “Remain in Mexico” policy by the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee in Washington, DC on Thursday. (livestream from Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee)
Activist Adam Isacson, director of defense oversight at the Washington Office for Latin America, responded by saying, “Of course it’s a problem, it’s a tragedy.”
“I wasn’t saying Laken Riley’s death wasn’t an actual problem, I was saying immigrant crime isn’t an actual problem,” Isacson said. “Migrant crime is much less of a problem than crime committed by American citizens.”
To which Hawley replied, “(Riley) is dead because of immigrant crime.”
Hawley also pointed out the case of a 12-year-old boy from St. Louis, Travis Wolfe who died in a car accident involving an illegal immigrant.
“I happen to think that their violent murders are real problems,” he said. “And the fact that you would say otherwise, sit here and advise the Senate that the Laken Riley Law Is it a bad idea that the whole thing isn’t a real issue, it’s all just made up? I find (it) scandalous. I think it’s absolutely scandalous.”
SENATE DEMS MEETS WITH REPUBLICANS TO PASS ANTI-ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION BILL NAMED LAKEN RILEY
The Republican Party’s Laken Riley Act defeated the filibuster with the help of some Democrats. (Reuters)
Isacson, who said he was invited to testify at the hearing by a Democratic member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committeesaid the bipartisan Laken Riley Act, already passed in the House of Representatives and requiring ICE to arrest and detain illegal immigrants who have committed a crime, “could do a lot of harm” and “would allow me say, ‘oh, this person shoplifted.’ And that would be sufficient probable cause to have someone deported.”
Hawley shot back: “I want the record on this to be clear, that immigrant crime is a real problem.”
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“I think the Laken Riley Act is absolutely necessary,” he said. “In fact, I’m proposing an amendment to the Laken Riley Act that would also apply to people like Travis Wolfe. I think ICE should detain illegal immigrants who commit violent crimes against children like Travis Wolfe, and be required to detain them. “
Speaking to Fox News Digital after the hearing, another expert, Andrew Arthur, a former immigration judge and legal and policy expert at the Center for Immigration Studies, said Hawley “expressed the frustration that many Americans feel about immigrant crime in the United States. “
Migrants at the southern border are found in Arizona. (US Border Patrol)
“We have seen many not only high-profile but shocking crimes committed in the United States by migrants who were stopped at the border and then released into the United States,” he said. ‘It’s called the Department of Homeland Security for a reason; The purpose of this section is to ensure that citizens of the United States and lawfully resident aliens are protected from criminal predation. Unfortunately, the Biden-Harris administration has dropped the ball on this issue at the border.”
“Individuals who are criminals, who by law should not be allowed into the United States at all, have actually been released into this country and now they are free to prey on both immigrant and civilian communities in this country,” Arthur added. “So, job one done Tom Homan – Donald Trump’s border czar – and the president himself will arrest, detain and remove all criminal aliens, all individuals who attack both immigrant and civilian communities in this country.”
Despite the theatrics, Arthur said it was a “good hearing” because there was “a lot of bipartisan agreement on the need to secure the border.””
In this August 2019 photo, migrants — many of whom were sent back to Mexico under the Trump administration’s “Remain in Mexico” policy — wait in line for a meal at an encampment near the Gateway International Bridge in Matamoros, Mexico. (AP)
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“Customs and Border Protection named Remain in Mexico as essential to border security the first time it was used under the Trump administration,” he said. “I think if you look at the amount of money that has flowed into the pockets of the cartels over the last four years, as we’ve seen, 8 to 10 million people have entered the United States illegally. that given the number of people sent back to Mexico, I think the balance is definitely in favor of maintaining the border and possibly re-implementing Remain in Mexico.
“As long as migrants continue to come to the United States in large numbers, the cartels will only get rich, they will only expand their capabilities and they will only ship more drugs into the United States.”
