In a refreshing departure from his indifference to immigration enforcement, House Speaker Mike Johnson passed the Laken Riley Act 264-159 with all Republicans and 48 Democrats voting yes. Georgia Republican Rep. Mike Collins introduced the companion bill to the Senate bill of the same name, which will be voted on later in January.
Johnson skeptics still remember the speaker promising not to send Ukraine a dime unless H.R. 2, the most powerful enforcement law ever written, was included in the next bill. Ukraine got its billions; HR 2 died a quiet death. However, Johnson has made good on his recent promise to accommodate citizens who want safe neighborhoods without violent criminal foreigners.
Both the House and Senate bills will authorize Immigration and Customs Enforcement to arrest and detain illegal immigrants who commit burglary, larceny, larceny or shoplifting. Jose Ibarra, a previously deported illegal immigrant from Venezuela, was initially released into the interior of the country from the El Paso port of entry. After arriving in New York, the New York Police Department charged Ibarra with “acting in a manner likely to injure a child under 17 years of age and a motor vehicle license violation.”
In Athens, Georgia, Ibarra and his brother Diego were charged with shoplifting from a Walmart before he later killed nursing student Laken Riley. Ibarra was convicted of three counts of aggravated murder and premeditated murder, kidnapping with bodily harm, aggravated assault with intent to commit rape and sexual depravity. To state the obvious: Had Ibarra been deported back to Venezuela under federal immigration laws, Riley would not have been murdered. Today she could be a practicing nurse.
Kudos to the 48 sensible Democrats who voted for safety and security in the communities they represent. But in his press release after the vote, Johnson criticized the 159 Democrats who voted against the bill. Johnson wrote that “after countless horrific stories like Laken's, it is hard to believe that ANY Democrats in the House of Representatives would vote against deporting illegal immigrants who commit violent crimes against American citizens.”
Previously, Johnson said he viewed the bill as an important test of Democrats' policy priorities after large numbers of voters identified the border crisis as their top concern ahead of the 2024 election. Johnson may have been disappointed with the Democrats, but he certainly couldn't have been surprised. Democrats are indifferent to ICE's fiscal year 2024 report showing that 81,312 illegal aliens had criminal histories with a total of 516,050 charges and/or convictions, including the following serious and violent crimes.
• 57,081 assaults
• 18,579 sexual assaults and sexual offenses
• 12,895 weapons offenses
• 11,822 burglaries
• 5,462 robberies
• 2,894 homicides
• 2,766 kidnappings
If the Laken Riley Act passes the Senate, the prospects are good. Republican John Thune of South Dakota, the new majority leader, supports immigration enforcement. The last Republican to precede Thune as majority leader was Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, an immigration enthusiast on par with many of the Democrats who most support open borders. Thune, on the other hand, received an A+ grade for strengthening border and internal surveillance as well as introducing stricter standards for resettling refugees and approving asylum applications.
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Thune added that Riley's horrific murder at the hands of Ibarra “should never have happened.” There is an urgent need to act on the border crisis to protect the American people. That’s why I selected this as the first bill the Senate will vote on in this Congress.”
In March, the House passed the Laken Riley Act 251-170, with 37 Democrats voting in favor. But Senate Democratic leader Dick Durbin of Illinois blocked the bill. Protecting Americans is not a partisan issue; Durbin's actions are incomprehensible.
Thune is starting his fourth term in the upper house, where he holds the most powerful position in the group and has the majority; His job is to put his words into action by ensuring the LRA is passed. But don't rush. If the LRA gets to the president's desk before the new administration is sworn in, Biden will veto it.
Years have passed since Congress passed immigration legislation that improves the lives of Americans. LRA is a welcome step in the right direction to protect the nation, but much more needs to be done, starting with closing the borders, which is clearly the most effective way to keep criminals out.
Joe Guzzardi iis an analyst at the Institute for Sound Public Policy who has written about immigration for more than 30 years. Contact him at jguzzardi@ifspp.org.