FIRST ON FOX: Senate Republicans are renewing their call for Democrats to consider the Laken Riley Act — a measure that would require federal immigration authorities to arrest and detain illegal immigrants charged with local theft or burglary – after being blocked for a second time this week.
In a letter Thursday to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin, D-Ill., 11 Senate Republicans, including all GOP members of the Judiciary Committee, urged immediate consideration of the bill and called she urged Durbin to schedule an increase in the bipartisan measure. .
“As you know, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has reported more than 7.8 million encounters with illegal aliens at the southern border during the Biden administration and as a result of its policies. That staggering number of encounters is greater than the individual populations of 37 states and greater than the number of people living in any city in the United States except New York City,” wrote the Republican senators, led by Senator Katie Britt. Alabama and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, in the letter.
The letter was sent after Britt and Graham requested unanimous consent to pass the measure earlier this week, when Durbin objected and blocked passage of the legislation for a second time in recent months.
ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT SUSPECT IN LAKEN RILEY'S MURDER INDICATED, ACCUSED OF 'BEEPING' UGA STAFF MEMBER
Sens. Katie Britt of Alabama (left) and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina (right) asked for unanimous consent to pass the measure earlier this week, but Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois (center) objected and blocked the legislation from being considered before the second time . (Getty Images)
“The Laken Riley Act is the bipartisan border bill that should have been in the Senate this week. If this legislation had been the law of the land, Laken Riley would still be alive today,” Britt, a lead sponsor of the Senate measure and a senior member of the Senate Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee, told Fox News Digital .
“The United States Senate has a responsibility to help prevent unimaginable tragedies like this from happening to more families across America,” she added. “It is time for Senate Democrats to stop blocking this common sense measure and put the safety and well-being of Americans first.”
Graham, the ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, applauded Britt's “determination” and offered his support for the measure. by DHS due to a lack of detention space. He then committed several crimes before being charged with Ms Riley's murder.
He added: “It would be shameful if Congress did not learn anything and take corrective action after this senseless killing. The least Democrats can do is allow the Laken Riley Act to be considered in committee. We need to change our laws so that there are no more laws.” cases like Mrs. Riley's.”
The measure is named after 22-year-old Laken Riley, a nursing student who was kidnapped and murdered while jogging on the University of Georgia campus in February. Jose Antonio Ibarra, the illegal immigrant from Venezuela charged with the murder, was arrested in New York prior to the killing but was not detained by ICE.
Before he was charged with murder, Ibarra was once arrested in New York for child endangerment, and in October 2023, he was indicted in Georgia for shoplifting along with his brother, Diego Ibarra, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
READ THE LETTER – APP USERS, CLICK HERE:
In the letter, Republicans called Ibarra “one of millions of aliens paroled by CBP under the leadership of President Biden and Secretary Mayorkas, who have implemented an unprecedented increase in parole abuse.”
“Under the Trump and Obama administrations, Customs and Border Protection parolees at the southern border averaged fewer than 6,000 per year. Under President Biden, parolees within the Department of Homeland Security have skyrocketed to more than 1.3 million per year. years,” the Republicans said.
LINDSEY GRAHAM SAYS DHS TOLD HIM THE ALLEGED KILLER OF LAEKEN RILEY WAS LOST TO US ILLEGALLY
Republicans urged consideration of the bill, describing Riley's killing as “a senseless tragedy that would have been entirely preventable if the Biden administration had enforced federal immigration law as it should be.”
The Laken Riley Act would require this US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to arrest illegal immigrants who commit theft, burglary, theft, or shoplifting and to require that those who commit such crimes be detained until removed from the United States so that they cannot violate the same law or commit additional crimes to commit.
In addition, the bill would ensure that states have the authority to bring civil lawsuits against federal officials who refuse to enforce immigration law or who violate the law.
Jose Antonio Ibarra, the illegal immigrant from Venezuela charged with the murder, was arrested in New York prior to the killing but was not detained by ICE. (ELIJAH NOUVELAGE/AFP via Getty Images)
“This bipartisan bill is a common-sense measure that would help prevent future tragedies resulting from the failure to enforce and follow immigration law, and we look forward to its consideration by the Judiciary Committee,” Republicans told the House Senate to Durbin in letter. “The Laken Riley Act is just one of many pieces of legislation that Republicans in the Senate have introduced to better protect the American people from the impact of the ongoing crisis at the southern border and to stem the flow of illegal aliens to the southern border – and not just to control –.” southern border and into the United States.”
“To date, the Judiciary Committee has taken no meaningful action on these bills during this Congress. We hope this will change in the near future, and we urge you to start with the Laken Riley Act,” she added.
The Senate measure has 47 cosponsors — including Montana Democrat Sen. Jon Tester — and was introduced in the Senate in March by Britt and Sen. Ted Budd, R-N.C., to serve as the Senate partner for H.R. 7511, which was originally introduced in the House by Georgia GOP Rep. Mike Collins.
Collins' measure passed the House of Representatives in March by a vote of 251-170. All 170 no votes were Democrats. However, 37 Democrats joined Republicans in advancing the bill.
Collins urged the Senate to pass the legislation immediately to “guarantee justice for Laeken and give ICE more tools to detain and deport criminal illegal aliens before they commit more serious crimes.”
Rep. Mike Collins, R-Ga., urged the Senate to immediately pass the Laken Riley Act to “ensure justice for Laken and give ICE more tools to detain and deport criminal illegal aliens before they commit more serious crimes.” (Bill Clark)
Collins, who represents Georgia's 10th congressional district from Athens, where the fatal attack took place on February 22, said Riley's killing is a “wake-up call” for America and that the measure is aimed at combating the “illegal crime wave” that he attributes to the ongoing border crisis.
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In addition to Britt and Graham, the letter to Durbin was signed by GOP Sens. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, John Cornyn of Texas, Mike Lee of Utah, Ted Cruz of Texas, Josh Hawley of Missouri, Tom Cotton of Arkansas, John Kennedy of Louisiana, Thom Tillis of North Carolina and Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee.
Fox News Digital did not receive an immediate response from Durbin's office on whether he plans to refer the bill to the Judiciary Committee for consideration.
Fox News' Greg Norman and Aubrie Spady contributed to this report.
