Ricketts on Senate Floor: Laken Riley Act Is “Our First Step” to Help President Trump Secure the Border
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Yesterday on the Senate floor, U.S. Senator Pete Ricketts (R-NE) called on his colleagues to pass the Laken Riley Act. The Laken Riley Act would require U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to detain illegal aliens who commit theft, burglary, larceny, or shoplifting offenses. It would also mandate that these illegal aliens are detained until they can be deported.
“People who break the laws in our country need to be held accountable,” Ricketts said. “That’s what the Laken Riley Act does. It requires Immigration and Customs Enforcement to detain people who are breaking our laws. When people come here illegally and they’re breaking our laws, they need to be held accountable.”
“The election results were overwhelming. President Trump has a mandate to secure the border,” Ricketts closed. “Senate Republicans will stand up to help him do just that. The Laken Riley Act is our first step to be able to help him do that. And I call upon my colleagues from the other side of the aisle to continue to support this bill as they’ve done on the previous votes. Let’s get this bill passed. Let’s make sure other families don’t have to live through the tragedy that Laken Riley’s family had to live through.”
The bill is named after 22-year-old University of Georgia nursing student Laken Riley, who was murdered while jogging on campus in February 2024. The alleged killer, Jose Ibarra, is an illegal alien from Venezuela. Ibarra crossed the border illegally in El Paso, Texas, in September of 2022. He was released into the country and bussed to New York. Ibarra was arrested in New York for endangering a child and was cited in Georgia for shoplifting in October 2023. However, Ibarra was not detained by ICE on either of those occasions.
TRANSCRIPT:
Senator Ricketts: “Thank you, Mr. President.
“President Biden’s open border policies have created a national security, humanitarian, and drug catastrophe in our country.
“In 2023, law enforcement encounters at the border found 169 people on FBI’s terrorist watch list.
“In previous years, under the Trump administration, that number was in single digits.
“We’ve had ten and a half million border encounters since Biden took office.
“On a single day in December, U.S. Customs and Border Protection encountered 12,600 people trying to illegally enter into our country. That’s just along the southern border. 12,600.
“It set an all-time single day record for the number of people trying to break into our country.
“In years past, administration officials have said if there is a thousand people encountered at our southern border trying to get in, that’s a crisis.
“12,600 is a catastrophe.
“Record amounts of deadly drugs have also flown into our country since President Biden opened our borders.
“We experienced this directly in Nebraska.
“In 2019, when I was Governor, Nebraska law enforcement took 46 pills laced with fentanyl off of our streets. 46.
“Then after Biden became President, in just the first six months of 2021, Nebraska law enforcement took 151,000 pills off our streets.
“From 46 to 151,000.
“While I was Governor, after Biden became President, we saw that our law enforcement started confiscating twice as much methamphetamine, three times as much fentanyl, ten times as much cocaine, because of our open southern border and the cartels taking advantage of it.
“And just like all around the country, our young people paid the price as well.
“Taryn Lee Griffith, a young mom of two who took a pill that was laced with fentanyl and died because of it.
“The single largest killer of Americans 18 to 45 is fentanyl overdose, all facilitated by President Biden’s open border policies along our southern border.
“Jose Ibarra was a different kind of problem.
“Jose Ibarra was a Venezuelan national who crossed our border illegally in the Texas area and asked for asylum.
“His wife said he just wanted a better job. But regardless, the Biden administration released him into this country.
“He was bused to New York City, and there he was arrested for ‘acting in a manner to endanger a child under the age of 17.’
“However, New York City is a sanctuary city.
“He was not detained or deported as he ought to have been.
“He was released.
“He made his way to Georgia.
“And once again he was arrested, this time for shoplifting.
“But once again he was not detained or deported by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
“And because he was not, he went on to brutally murder Laken Riley.
“This tragedy could have been avoided if President Biden had been protecting our southern border.
“If illegal immigrants were being detained and deported.
“People who break the laws in our country need to be held accountable.
“That’s what the Laken Riley Act does.
“It requires Immigration and Customs Enforcement to detain people who are breaking our laws.
“When people come here illegally and they’re breaking our laws, they need to be held accountable.
“With the Laken Riley Act, if you are committing theft, burglary, shoplifting, you will be detained, and tragedies like Laken Riley can be avoided.
“This is just common sense that we need to enforce our laws.
“To me it’s common sense that we need to protect our borders.
“And thank goodness, starting in a few days, we will have a President who understands the safety of the American people is the priority. And President Trump will secure our borders.
“The election results were overwhelming.
“President Trump has a mandate to secure our borders.
“Senate Republicans will stand up to help him do just that.
“The Laken Riley Act is our first step to be able to help him do that.
“And I call upon my colleagues from the other side of the aisle to continue to support this bill as they’ve done on the previous votes.
“Let’s get this bill passed.
“Let’s make sure other families don’t have to live through the tragedy that Laken Riley’s family had to live through.
“Thank you, Mr. President.”