Republican Texas Rep. Chip Roy berated Attorney General Merrick Garland Tuesday over illegal immigrants allegedly murdering Americans under President Joe Biden’s administration.
The Department of Justice has filed lawsuits against three red states, including Texas, for enacting laws that empower police to enforce immigration rules. Roy asked Garland during a House Judiciary Committee hearing if Texas has a right to defend itself against illegal immigrants, especially in light of alleged murders committed by them, with the representative showing pictures of the victims.
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“There’s a number of people here that I want to see if you can identify who they are,” Roy said. “What we have here in the bottom corner is a woman named Lizbeth Medina. She was found dead in a bathtub in Texas. Her mom found her, hoping to see her in a parade that night. She was killed by Rafael Romero, who was here illegally. On the bottom left, you have Laken Riley. She was killed by 26-year-old Jose Ibarra, arrested by U.S. customs and border protection after he unlawfully entered the United States near El Paso, Texas.”
“Up above, you have officers Richard Yarusso, 26 and officer Christopher Abreu, 26. Both were shot this last weekend by Bernardo Raul Castro Mato, a 19-year-old Venezuelan national apprehended by U.S. border patrol after he unlawfully entered the United States near Eagle Pass in July of 2023,” Roy added.
Ibarra had an extensive criminal record and got arrested soon after the discovery of Riley’s body on the University of Georgia campus following a mid-afternoon run.
“What we have is a continued effort by the federal government to fail to secure the border of the United States, and Americans are dying or getting shot. In this case, law enforcement getting shot. Two young women who are dead. My question for you with respect to the department is, do you believe that Texas has a right to defend itself and to ensure that people who are in this country are not here illegally and that we can protect the citizens of Texas from people unlawfully here who are committing crimes …. Do you say that Texas does not have a right to defend itself and to protect our citizens from murder by people who have come here illegally into the United States?” the congressman asked.
“I say, as the attorney general, and as a human being, that my heart goes out to the families, that these are terrible, terrible events,” Garland said. “I say secondly, as the attorney general, the way to stop people like this from coming into the United States is to give more resources to the border patrol so they can prevent it.”
Texas Senate Bill 4 empowers law enforcement to arrest illegal immigrants and impose various penalties for unlawful presence in the country, but the Biden administration argues the laws are unconstitutional as they encroach on the federal government’s authority to enforce immigration law.
“Mr. Attorney general, no, no … Money’s not going to solve the problem when the Department of Homeland Security and the President of the United States refuse to enforce the law, ignore the policies,” Roy said in response. “And Lizbeth Medina would be here alive today if we were following the law. Laken Riley would be here today if we had not released a killer onto the streets in United States of America through parole policies that this administration is advancing.”
“And the Department of Justice is suing the state of Texas in court, taking valuable resources, to go against the people of Texas when Texas simply wants to say that we should have a say in stopping people who are illegally, arrest them and be able to deal with that on our own terms when the federal government refuses to do its job,” Roy added.
(Featured Image Media Credit: Screenshot/Rumble/House Judiciary Committee)
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