Border Patrol has apprehended thousands of violent criminals and terrorists from over 70 different countries, many of which are hostile to the United States. Human smuggling, drug smuggling, sexual assaults, child rape, murder, weapons smuggling, money laundering and many other crimes have risen dramatically throughout America’s cities and towns due to the migrant onslaught.
On February 22, 2024, a 22-year-old University of Georgia nursing student by the name of Laken Riley was abducted and viciously murdered by a Venezuelan migrant who entered the United States illegally through El Paso Texas. Jose Antonio Ibarra had previously been arrested and detained by Border Patrol; however, he was “paroled and released for further processing”, according to ICE officials, under the Biden catch and release border parole policy.
Prior to the heinous murder of Laken Riley, Ibarra had been arrested in New York and charged with “acting in a manner to injure a child less than 17”, a felony according to local authorities. Since New York is a sanctuary city and refuses to communicate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Ibarra was released on his personal recognizance before ICE could detain and deport him.
On July 4th, 2015, 32-year-old Kate Steinle was fatally shot while walking with her father along pier 14 in San Francisco. The shooter, Jose Inez Garcia Zarate, another migrant who entered the United States illegally, was in possession of a handgun that he had stolen a week earlier from a U.S. Bureau of Land Management Ranger’s car, while parked on a San Francisco Street.
Before Kate’s killing, Garcia Zarate had recently completed a prison sentence for illegal re-entry to the U.S., when he was transferred to San Francisco to face a prior drug charge. Prosecutors declined to prosecute the case, but the San Francisco sheriff released him from jail anyway, despite a federal immigration request to detain him for deportation.
San Francisco is also a sanctuary city and simply refuses to comply with Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE). Kate Steinle, just like Laken Riley would still be alive today, if federal immigration laws were being followed in these aptly named sanctuary cities. Unfortunately for residents in these communities, the only sanctuary being given, is to illegal aliens perpetrating crime in these cities.
Presently, there are thousands of illegal immigrants incarcerated in America’s jails and prisons across the United States for violent crimes such as murder, child rape, assault, firearms charges, and many others, while many remain at large, praying on innocent American families. Biden’s open border policy continues to create new victims daily, especially in sanctuary cities.
On March 7th, 2024, the United States House of Representatives introduced and passed the Laken Riley Act, with a vote of 251-170. 37 democrats crossed party lines and joined house republicans; and if enacted, would mandate federal detention of migrants who commit burglary or theft and allow for states to file suit against the federal government for failing to enforce federal immigration laws.
It's worth noting 170 lawmakers voted against the Laken Riley Act, with many of them simply calling it “racist”, without any factual basis or evidence to support such a claim. It’s worth noting, the utilization of words like racist or racism are today’s buzz words when lawmakers do not have a logical explanation for failing to protect the American public.
Thank you, and may God bless you.
Vincent Cavaleri
