Last year, Laken Riley was out on one of her daily runs when she was kidnapped and murdered by an illegal alien, Jose Ibarra.
She was an Augusta University nursing student. He is an illegal immigrant from Venezuela. That is a stark contrast.
In 2022, he crossed the southern border and was sent on a taxpayer funded bus to New York City where he was arrested for child endangerment and released without an ICE detainer. He was then flown on the taxpayer dime to Georgia where he was arrested for shoplifting and once again released without a detainer.
Let’s make this clear: Ibarra was known by law enforcement and transported to his victim with our tax dollars.
He should have never been in this country to begin with and he should have been sent back a long time ago. Every part of our system failed Laken Riley, and because of it, a family spent Christmas without their daughter, friends celebrated a new year without a beloved classmate and a community and country were forced to mourn the loss of a life taken so soon.
Immediately after this incident, we got to work to do something about it.
House Republicans knew that this could not be the status quo. The failures that allowed this heinous murder could no longer be acceptable reality.
We wrote legislation, the Laken Riley Act, to close the loophole that allows illegal criminals to evade ICE detainers. The same loophole that allowed her killer to stay here.
Less than a week into this Congress, House Republicans have already made a priority happen. We did our job to ensure that this tragedy can never happen again.
Yesterday, we passed the Laken Riley Act through the House of Representatives by a 264-159 margin.
A remarkable point: 48 Democrats joined us.
House Republicans’ commonsense legislation has proven that solutions are possible, and that we can work together to solve problems without either party compromising their beliefs.
The bipartisan support of the Laken Riley Act in the House shows that not only are Republicans unified in ending illegal crime, but that Democrats know that their soft-on-crime experiments have gone too far.
And there is more hope coming from Congress.
This legislation is another step in delivering justice and ensuring that the pain the Riley family experiences every day is not felt by a single American family again.
Whether they live in Georgia, Michigan or any state.
Our efforts should give Americans everywhere a sense of security and that solutions are possible.
Yesterday was a sign of optimism.
The House did its job. House Republicans were unified in their vote.
House Republicans ran on a political platform that is about being accountable to the people.
We want to make our country safer. We want to save lives.
On November 5, 75 million people gave the House Republicans a mandate. They demanded a change.
The passage of the Laken Riley Act shows we are already delivering on our promises.
Congressman Mike Collins represents Georgia’s 10th Congressional District and Chairwoman Lisa McClain represents Michigan’s 9th Congressional District.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller News Foundation.
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