Democrat Virginia Rep. Suhas Subramanyam stated during a Monday town hall that illegal immigrants who are being detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have not committed any crimes.
Subramanyam distinguished between the Laken Riley Act, which mandates that federal immigration authorities detain illegal immigrants who committed theft-related crimes, and the arrests of illegal immigrants who allegedly did not commit any crimes. The congressman accused ICE of approaching innocent illegal immigrants and arresting them despite no crime being committed, despite them having entered the U.S. illegally in the first place.
“I think that’s different than going up to people without telling them what they’ve done, in masks, and putting them in detention facilities. And I think the people that are being approached did not commit any crimes, weren’t even suspected of any crimes,” Subramanyam said. “They’re going to workplaces, restaurants, they’re going to churches, courthouses … I think that’s very different, which is why I have been very much pushing back forcefully on what ICE is doing now.”
WATCH:
Since the beginning of Trump’s second term, ICE has arrested over 300,000 illegal immigrants who have committed heinous criminal acts, including homicide and the sexual assault of minors. Illegal border crossings have reached their lowest levels in history as a result of Trump’s hawkish border policies.
A slew of recent high-profile murders have been committed at the hands of illegal immigrants. A jury convicted Jose Ibarra, an illegal migrant from Venezuela, in November 2024 for the murder of 22-year-old nursing student Laken Riley outside of the University of Georgia’s campus in February.
Riley’s death prompted the passage of the Laken Riley Act, which President Trump signed into law on January 29, to ensure that illegal immigrants with any criminal background are detained.
Two Venezuelan nationals murdered 12-year-old Jocelyn Nungaray and dumped her corpse in June 2024. In a separate case, an illegal Salvadoran national named Victor Antonio Martinez-Hernandez was sentenced to life in prison for the murder of 37-year-old Rachel Morin in Maryland.
In Washington, D.C., Trump’s federal takeover led to the arrest of dozens of illegal immigrants who had committed crimes in the nation’s capital. Illegal immigrants have made up about 40% of the arrests made as of Monday, according to The Washington Post.
ICE arrested some of the “worst of the worst” illegal immigrant criminals on Saturday and Sunday, including one from Cuba with 23 prior convictions, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced. Among those arrested are those with a history of criminal convictions for possession of a controlled substance, exploitation of children and the elderly, sexual misconduct with a minor, procurement of prostitution and robbery.
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