Laken Riley Act
Floor Speech
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Mr. McCLINTOCK. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 5, I call up the bill (H.R. 29) to require the Secretary of Homeland Security to take into custody aliens who have been charged in the United States with theft, and for other purposes, and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
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Mr. McCLINTOCK. 29.
Mr. Speaker, the brutal murder of Laken Riley was foreordained the day Joe Biden took office and reversed the successful Trump policies that had finally secured our borders.
Since that day just 4 years ago, more than 7.8 million illegal aliens have been deliberately allowed into our country--a population the size of the State of Washington, our 13th largest State.
Very little is done to vet these millions of illegal migrants. We don't know how many terrorists and violent criminals are among them, and worse, the Democrats don't seem to care.
We know that the number of terrorists we are apprehending has skyrocketed and that violent international crime cartels and violent foreign gangs are now operating freely in our communities, often protected from deportation and detention by the Democrats' sanctuary laws.
One of these criminals has now been convicted of the brutal murder of Laken Riley. How many such monsters have the Democrats deliberately allowed into our country we do not know, but we are slowly, painfully, and tragically finding out victim by victim.
In this case, the murderer was paroled into this country through a shocking abuse of this power by the Biden administration. He was repeatedly arrested for theft and other crimes in sanctuary jurisdictions and each time released back onto our streets.
Just months before Laken Riley's murder, this murderer was arrested for theft, but he was released. ICE did not take him into custody because of a Biden administration policy that shields many criminal aliens from arrest and deportation.
Sadly, this is exactly what those who voted for Joe Biden in 2020 voted for because this is exactly what the Democrats promised to do.
Fortunately, those who voted for Donald Trump in 2024 voted to stop this tragic travesty of our immigration laws because that is what he has promised to do and will begin doing over the Democrats' objections beginning at noon on January 20.
During his first term, President Trump proved that the President on his own authority can secure our borders. President Biden proved that a President determined to undermine and make a mockery of our immigration laws can willfully open those borders to the most violent criminals, terrorists, gangs, and cartels on this planet and use the Democrats' sanctuary laws to protect them.
This national nightmare will end at noon on Inauguration Day, but what of future Presidents?
The Laken Riley Act would require ICE detention for illegal aliens who are charged with, arrested for, or convicted of any burglary, theft, larceny, or shoplifting offense.
H.R. 29 further requires the Department of Homeland Security to issue a detainer for those illegal aliens and take custody of them effectively and expeditiously. It would also allow States to bring a civil action against derelict Federal officials who refuse to enforce these laws.
Joe Biden and Alejandro Mayorkas, I am looking at you.
This bill passed the Republican House in March of last year, but Senate Democrats stopped it cold. I said at the time that, today, the name on the bill is Laken Riley. Tomorrow, it will be another victim of these policies, another son, daughter, or loved one.
It won't stop until this administration is stopped, and that can only be done by the American people. Thank God, the American people have done exactly that. They have given this Congress and this President the tools and mandate to secure our borders and remove every person who has broken into our country by violating our laws.
Without this law, a future Democratic President could once again release dangerous illegal aliens back onto our streets to prey on our people and destroy innocent lives like Laken Riley's. This bill would stop them.
I want you to listen to what my friend just said, that we shouldn't be placing illegals in detention simply for being charged with a crime; and, besides, shoplifting is no big deal anyway.
Listen to what he is actually suggesting. Current law requires the detention of every illegal alien who crosses our border. Every one.
The Democrats have studiously ignored this law, and now they are saying ignore this law even if the illegal has now been charged with committing other crimes as well. Let them back onto the streets, as they did with Laken Riley's murderer. If a few innocent teens happen to get raped and murdered along the way, well, too bad.
The Democrats have told us for 4 years that their refusal to enforce our immigration laws is because they are prioritizing more dangerous offenders. That is precisely what this bill does. It prioritizes dangerous offenders, and yet the Democrats are still opposing it.
Mr. Collins represents Laken Riley's hometown and her grieving family in this House.
Mr. VAN ORDEN. Mr. Speaker, this bill is going to go a long way to reverse the lawlessness of the Biden-Harris administration. I will tell you a story for a moment.
A criminal illegal alien entered the country with known gang tattoos and was allowed through Biden's porous border. He made his way to the State of Wisconsin where he had warrants issued in Dane County for strangulation, suffocation, false imprisonment, battery, and disorderly conduct. He was not detained and deported, as he should have been, because Dane County is a sanctuary county.
He then made his way to Minneapolis, Minnesota, where he was arrested for simple property crimes. He was not detained and deported, as he should have been as a criminal illegal alien, because Minneapolis is a sanctuary city.
He then made his way to a small town of 5,600 people, Prairie du Chien, my hometown, where he brutally raped a mother and savagely beat her daughter over a period of days and was finally arrested for domestic battery, strangulation, suffocation, physical abuse to a child, disorderly conduct, and two counts of second-degree sexual assault.
None of this needed to happen if the law was adhered to. None of this would have taken place if this person was detained and deported for a simple property crime. Enough.
It is the Federal Government's primary responsibility to protect its citizens. My Democratic colleagues are refusing to do this, and it is shameful. It is time to protect our American citizens against criminal illegal aliens, and I ask my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to strongly support this bill.
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Mr. McCLINTOCK. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Harris).
Mr. HARRIS of North Carolina. Madam Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 29, the Laken Riley Act.
For the past 4 years, the American people have suffered under the Biden administration's disastrous open-border policies that have allowed millions of illegal aliens to flood our communities.
One of those illegal aliens was Jose Ibarra. In 2023, he was caught shoplifting. Despite multiple arrests on his record in addition to his illegal status, he was released under the Biden administration. Months later, as we all know, he murdered 22-year-old nursing student Laken Riley.
There is no other way to put it. Her death is a direct result of President Biden's deliberate refusal to enforce our laws. It is the Federal Government's job to defend our borders and protect our citizens, and our government has failed us.
Fortunately, a new leader is taking office soon. This past November, Americans demonstrated that they are fed up with the left's refusal to secure our border. I am proud to be part of a Republican majority that will work with the new administration to strengthen our laws to ensure the safety of every American.
While I am confident that the Trump administration will secure our border and, yes, empower ICE to do its job, we must not allow our security to depend on whether or not a Republican occupies the White House. We in this Congress must ensure there are no future Laken Rileys.
Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support this legislation.
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Mr. McCLINTOCK. Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Clyde).
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Mr. McCLINTOCK. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Van Drew).
Mr. VAN DREW. Madam Speaker, I want to address one thing before we start. It was again mentioned about the bipartisan bill. The bipartisan bill was a bad bill. It didn't stop catch and release. It didn't expedite immediately to the country of origin. It didn't rebuild the wall. It didn't have a stay in Mexico policy. It was words. It wasn't actions. It wasn't good. That is why people didn't vote for it. That is why it wasn't successful.
Speaking about words, though, when I came here today, I thought about a lot of words. I hear a lot of words, a lot of debate, a lot of discussion. To the family of Laken Riley and to so many others across the United States of America, words don't matter. Condolences don't count. Speeches don't do it. Words will never replace her life.
In life, we have all gone through tragedies sometimes, so we often say: My God, why did this happen? Why did this car accident happen? Why did this person get cancer? Whatever it is.
This is different. We know why it happened. It happened because of the administration allowing illegals, some of whom--not all of whom but some of whom--were criminals into our country, feeding them, clothing them, transporting them, housing them, paying for them. Men and women are breaking their backs in this country to make a living, but we are paying for it.
We know how it happened. We know how it happened to the New York City woman who was set on fire. We know how it happened to State Trooper Christopher Gadd in Washington State when he died because of an illegal alien. We know how it happened to Lizbeth Medina from the great State of Texas. She was 16 years old, and her life was snuffed out. That is never okay.
Laken Riley fought for her life. You hear about her last 20 minutes on this Earth. She fought, and she fought with everything she had. She didn't want to be raped. She didn't want to be brutalized.
I don't want to curse here.
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Mr. McCLINTOCK. Madam Speaker, I yield an additional 1 minute to the gentleman from New Jersey.
Mr. VAN DREW. Madam Speaker, this individual then took a rock and bashed her head in until she was unrecognizable.
Do you know what? Condolences aren't going to do it. I say it to my friend on the other side of the aisle, the ranking member. Feeling bad, feeling sorry, is not going to do it. It doesn't make the difference.
All of us here, most of us have been mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, daughters, or sons. You can't imagine how her family feels. People say, ``I know how you feel.'' No, I don't know. I don't know. You don't know.
There is something we can do. All this bill does is detain people who have done something wrong, who have broken the law already, and who have the potential to do even worse. All of these cases that I mentioned and many more would not have occurred if we had this law in place.
Don't give condolences. Vote for the bill.
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Mr. McCLINTOCK. Madam Speaker, perhaps we should take all the criminals off the streets, starting with those who shouldn't have been in our country in the first place, which is what this bill does.
Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Cline).
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Mr. McCLINTOCK. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Pfluger), the chairman of the Republican Study Committee.
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Mr. McCLINTOCK. Madam Speaker, I remind my friend that the law also requires every illegal alien to be detained until their case is adjudicated, which is what the Democrats have ignored these last 4 years.
This bill simply says if on top of that the illegal is charged with a crime, they need to be detained and taken off the streets.
The murderer of Laken Riley was charged but not convicted. Had he been treated as the detainer law requires, he would have been deported and Laken Riley would be alive today.
I am prepared to close when the gentleman is ready. I reserve the balance of my time.
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Mr. McCLINTOCK. Madam Speaker, I agree with my colleague that the riot at the Capitol 4 years ago was an abomination. I have said so repeatedly whenever the subject arises. There is no excuse for it.
I would also remind the gentleman what Justice Kavanaugh said in the United States v. Texas. That is where the Supreme Court ruled the States currently don't have standing to sue to enforce these laws. What he actually says was, the ruling was, it would require a change in law: elevating de facto injuries to the status of legally cognizable injuries redressable by a Federal court. That is what Justice Kavanaugh said we needed to do. That is exactly what this bill does, by the book, and yet the Democrats still oppose it.
To my Democratic colleagues, I ask them: How many more laws with names attached to them do we need to pass before they take this crisis seriously?
How many American citizens must die at the hands of illegal aliens before we all agree that these tragedies are all preventable, lest the name of my child or your child be the one attached to an H.R. number before the Democrats can vote ``yes'' on these commonsense bills?
How much more blood must be shed before we can all join in calling for an absolute end to the Democrats' reckless open borders and sanctuary city policies that have threatened our safety, devastated our families, and are in the process of destroying our country?
The American people have now spoken clearly on this issue. Enough is enough.
Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
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