Political Quotes

“Madam Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 29, the Laken Riley Act. This bill is in remembrance of Laken Riley, the 22-year-old nursing student who was tragically murdered last year in my home community of Athens, Georgia, by an illegal alien from Venezuela who should have never even been in our country. After illegally crossing the southern border in 2022, Laken's murderer was released through the Biden administration's weaponization of the parole program. The following year, he was arrested by the NYPD for acting in a manner to injure a minor and for committing a motor vehicle license violation. According to an Athens-Clarke County Police Department report, this illegal alien went on to shoplift in Georgia just weeks after his encounter with law enforcement in New York. Clearly, this illegal alien had a pattern of criminal history, one that started when he accepted Joe Biden's invitation to illegally enter our country. He should never have been allowed to reside in the United States illegally, and ICE should have immediately issued a detainer after he committed these crimes. Ultimately, if ICE had been aware and then issued a detainer, this criminal illegal alien would not have even been in the United States to commit the horrific murder of Laken Riley. We must enact changes now to protect our communities across the country from facing additional avoidable tragedies. Thankfully, H.R. 29 provides a commonsense solution to do just that.…”