Rep. Calvert Votes for the Laken Riley Act
Today, Congressman Ken Calvert (CA-41) voted along a majority (251 to 170) of the House of Representatives to pass the Laken Riley Act, H.R. 7511. Rep. Calvert is a cosponsor of the bill, which was introduced in response to the tragic murder of Laken Riley, a 22-year-old nursing student who was murdered when she went jogging at the University of Georgia. The suspect, Jose Antonio Ibarra, was an illegal immigrant who had been arrested multiple times and released before allegedly killing Laken Riley.
“Laken Riley would be alive today if President Biden had secured our border, if DHS had deported Ibarra immediately rather than releasing him, or if ICE had taken Ibarra into custody after his two arrests,” said Rep. Calvert. “Sadly, this is not an isolated incident. We’ve seen time and time again the devastating consequences of soft-on-crime policies, like sanctuary state laws passed by radical Democrats. I previously introduced the HELD Act because these dangerous sanctuary laws prevent local law enforcement from working with ICE to detain and deport criminal illegal aliens. Democrats are willing to compromise the safety of Americans for open borders and it’s led to devastating consequences for too many families.”
The Laken Riley Act would require Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to issue a detainer for illegal immigrants who are charged or cited with local theft or burglary. It would also hold the Biden Administration accountable by allowing states to sue the federal government for injunctive relief if an immigration related action (parole, violation of detention requirements, etc.), harms the state or its citizens.
Last year, Rep. Calvert introduced H.R. 136 to keep our communities safe by ensuring dangerous criminals are not released onto our streets. The Help Ensure Legal Detainers (HELD) Act would incentivize state and local law enforcement agencies to comply with federal law enforcement requests to transfer the custody of criminal illegal immigrants for their removal.
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