WASHINGTON – Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, today joined Sen. Ted Budd (R-N.C.) and colleagues in hosting a press conference on the Laken Riley Act, which Kennedy helped introduce in the Senate.
The Laken Riley Act would require the Biden administration’s U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to detain illegal immigrants who commit theft, burglary, larceny or shoplifting offenses until they are removed from the country.
Illegal aliens have victimized people in Louisiana. Last month, law enforcement in Louisiana arrested an illegal immigrant for allegedly stabbing a man while robbing him and for raping a 14-year-old girl. Kennedy called on President Biden to “stop putting out a welcome mat for criminal aliens who sneak into America and victimize innocent people.”
Kennedy’s key remarks are below.
“In opening up the southern border—and that’s clearly what President Biden and the Democrat Party [have] done—he and they have clearly summoned spirits that they can’t control.”
. . .
“Many, many members of the Democratic Party believe that vetting people at the southern border is racist. Most Americans don't agree with that. They think it's prudent.”
. . .
“The [Laken] Riley Act is yet one more attempt by the Republican Party to try to stem the chaos at the border, and—make no mistake—the border is chaotic by design.
“The Democratic Party, led by President Biden, now clearly believes in no distinction between legal and illegal immigration. If—according to the Biden administration—if you are a Nigerian doctor or a German engineer and you want to come to the United States legally and you filled out all the forms and you've undergone the vetting and you're waiting patiently in line, you're a chump. You're a chump because this administration believes there should be no distinction between legal and illegal immigration.
“There’s another provision in the [Laken] Riley Act that you should pay very close attention to because it would be far reaching, and that is this [bill] would create a cause of action for a state—probably through its attorney general—that can prove damage to sue federal officials who do not enforce America's immigration laws.”
Background:
In February, Kennedy demanded answers from Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas about why Riley’s suspected murderer, José Ibarra, was paroled into the U.S.
Earlier this month, Kennedy called for the Senate take up impeachment charges against Mayorkas. The House of Representatives charged Mayorkas for his failure to make case-by-case parole determinations for illegal immigrants.
In Nov. 2023, Kennedy helped introduce the Southern Border Transparency Act, which would require the DHS to disclose its catch-and-release data, including the number of migrants that the Biden administration has paroled into the country.
Watch Kennedy’s full remarks here.
