Katie Britt: “first, I would like to say thank you to my colleague from South Carolina for his leadership on this critical issue. The…”

“first, I would like to say thank you to my colleague from South Carolina for his leadership on this critical issue. The Laken Riley Act is the bipartisan border bill that should be on the Senate floor today. I am proud to be the lead Senate sponsor of this critical legislation along with my colleague from North Carolina. The Laken Riley Act passed the House of Representatives in an overwhelmingly bipartisan fashion. The gentleman from Georgia, from Congressional District 10, secured 37 Democratic votes for this bill on the House floor, and here in the Senate, this bill is bipartisan and has a cosponsor list of 47 Senators. I am confident that a bipartisan majority of Senators supports the Laken Riley Act and would vote for it today. The House already did its work in a bipartisan fashion on this legislation, and now it is our turn here in the Senate. Frankly, it is 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 from happening to more families across America. The Laken Riley Act is straightforward. It says that ICE would be required to detain and deport illegal aliens who commit theft offenses.…”