On the same day that Joe Biden will be delivering his final State of the Union address, House Republicans passed the Laken Riley Act, which will address another crisis that Biden’s failed Far Left open border policies created and honor the memory of Laken Hope Riley who was tragically murdered by a 26 year old illegal immigrant.
The Laken Riley Act introduced by Mike Collins (R-GA) makes it crystal clear that an illegal immigrant who commits a theft offense, as Laken Riley’s alleged killer did, will be a priority for arrest and must be detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) until the illegal immigrant is removed from the country. This bill also ensures the Biden Administration can be held accountable for its Far Left immigration enforcement and open-borders policies—policies that directly resulted in Laken Riley’s senseless murder—by providing states standing to sue Executive Branch officials for their refusal to enforce the immigration laws, as written by Congress.
MAKE NO MISTAKE: Joe Biden’s border crisis is responsible for Laken Riley’s death. It has turned every community into a border community and destroyed countless American families. House Republicans know that border security is national security. That is why we passed the strongest border security bill in history.
FACTS ABOUT THE LAKEN RILEY ACT (Courtesy of Judiciary Committee Republicans):
H.R. 7511 requires ICE to arrest illegal immigrants who commit theft offenses and mandates that these immigrants are detained until they are removed from the country so they cannot reoffend and continue to victimize Americans. Mere months before allegedly murdering Laken Riley, the illegal immigrant charged with killing her was arrested for theft, but local authorities in Georgia released him, and ICE did not lodge a detainer for the illegal immigrant. Through a detainer, ICE requests cooperation from local enforcement to ensure that ICE can take custody of the illegal immigrant when the illegal immigrant is released by local authorities. The Laken Riley Act would mandate ICE detention for illegal immigrants who are charged with, convicted of, arrested for, admit having committed, or admit committing acts that constitute the essential elements of any burglary, theft, larceny, or shoplifting offense. H.R. 7511 further requires the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to issue a detainer for these illegal immigrants and take custody of them “effectively and expeditiously.”
H.R. 7511 ensures that states have standing to bring civil actions against open-borders federal officials who refuse to enforce immigration law or violate the law to the detriment of Americans. The Biden Administration released Laken Riley’s alleged killer into the United States in 2022 through its violations of the parole and detention requirements under federal immigration law. Although H.R. 2 as passed by the House would ensure that the Biden Administration could not exploit the law in this way, the Laken Riley Act adds another safeguard to help ensure the immigration laws are followed by providing states standing to bring a civil action against federal officials for the failure to enforce the five most abused immigration statutes, including mandatory detention requirements at the southwest border, individual parole authority that is limited to case-by-case determinations, and visa sanctions against countries that refuse to accept the return of their nationals. In doing so, H.R. 7511 responds to the Supreme Court’s 2023 ruling in United States v. Texas, in which the Court held that states did not have standing to challenge the Biden Administration’s lax immigration enforcement policies.
JOE BIDEN’S BORDER CRISIS BY THE NUMBERS:
Since Joe Biden took office:
There have been 8.7 million illegal crossings nationwide.
There have been OVER 7.2 MILLION illegal crossings of our Southern Border.
The total number of illegal immigrants who have entered through our Southern Border is greater than the population of 36 states. Including;
Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming.
There have been 1.8 million known gotaways who evaded U.S. Border Patrol.
Since the start of FY 2024 there have been OVER 1 million illegal immigrant encounters.
In January, there were 176,205 illegal immigrants encountered at the Southern Border.
January was the 35th straight month, where monthly illegal immigrant encounters have been higher than even the highest month seen under President Trump.
Under Biden, over 340 of these individuals whose names appear on the terrorist watchlist were stopped trying to cross the Southern Border.
So far in FY24, there have been 58 individuals whose names appear on the terrorist watch list who have been stopped trying to enter the U.S. illegally between ports of entry.
This total is more than the encounters in all FY17, FY18, FY19, FY20, FY21, and FY22 combined.
Over 20,000 Communist Chinese nationals have illegally crossed the Southern Border since FY24 began in October.
Communist Chinese nationals are exploiting Joe Biden’s failed Far Left open border policies at “record-breaking figures,” becoming “the fastest-growing demographic entering the country illegally.”
The surge in Communist Chinese nationals encountered at our Southern Border has raised serious concerns that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is exploiting the Biden border crisis for nefarious reasons.
Biden’s Far Left open border policies are to blame for this historic crisis.
There are OVER 60 instances of Joe Biden and his Administration taking actions that undermined our nation’s border security, including halting the construction of the border wall.
In August 2022, Biden and his Administration decided to make the border crisis WORSE by formally ending former President Trump’s successful ‘Remain in Mexico’ program.”
The Biden Administration announced on May 10, 2023, that it would allow for the release of some migrants into the U.S. with no way to track them.
Biden’s Department of Homeland Security has now admitted that 40 percent of catch-and-release migrants have disappeared.
Despite this historic crisis Joe Biden has only visited the Southern Border ONCE, and it was widely panned as nothing more than a photo-op.
FACTS ABOUT THE SECURE THE BORDER ACT OF 2023:
Force the Biden Administration to restart construction of the border wall.
Deploy technology to the Southern and Northern Border.
Increase the number of Border Patrol agents and provide bonus pay.
Require transparency regarding illegal crossings from the Department of Homeland Security.
Strengthen current law to protect unaccompanied children from human trafficking.
