Laken Riley Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. CLYDE. 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. This legislation requires ICE to issue detainers and take custody of illegal aliens who commit crimes like theft, burglary, and larceny.

The local jurisdiction, the Athens-Clarke County Unified Government, was a sanctuary city, and that is another problem. That is a big problem. The sanctuary policy hampered the Athens-Clarke County Department of Police Services and the Clarke County Sheriff's Office from recognizing and acting upon an ICE detainer, which could have prevented Laken's murder.

Time and time again, communities and families throughout our Nation have been devastated by heinous crimes committed by illegal aliens. In fact, this past October, the Peach State faced another unspeakable tragedy. In Habersham County, in my home district, Ms. Mimi Rodriguez- Ramirez was brutally murdered by an illegal alien from Mexico. She was just 25 years old and left behind a young daughter and a loving family.

The citizens of Clarke County and Habersham County are hundreds of miles from any border but are still being brutally victimized by illegal aliens. Enough is enough. These preventable tragedies must come to an end.

As a cosponsor of this critical legislation, I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support the Laken Riley Act. After all, one of the most formidable ways that Congress can deliver justice for Laken Riley, Mimi Rodriguez-Ramirez, and their families is by passing this legislation to prevent additional avoidable tragedies from victimizing the law-abiding citizens of our Nation.

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