On Wednesday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “America Reports,” Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) stated that Laken Riley’s death “is a failure of the sanctuary city policy,” and one of the “consequences of the failures going on at the border.” Moskowitz also stated that “Republicans have been talking about it the last couple of years and Democrats were a little late to the party.” But there was a fix “and Donald Trump killed it because he wants the issue for his campaign.”
Moskowitz said, [relevant remarks begin around 2:05] “What happened in the Laken Riley situation is unacceptable in this country. That gentleman, as soon as he was picked up on the child endangerment charge, should have been deported. The idea that he was detained and then released so that he could go and commit another crime is ridiculous. This is a failure of the sanctuary city policy, it’s not something that I support, it’s why I support Mayor Adams (D) saying these changes need to be made immediately.”
He added, “We’ve got to fix the issues at the border. There was a bipartisan deal to do that, to try to do some of those things, that died. And so, yes, these are consequences of the failures going on at the border. But we’re not going to fix those unless we have a bipartisan solution to what’s going on. But yes, these migrant crime issues where someone is getting picked up and then released and then committing a second crime, these people need to be deported as soon as they’re arrested.”
Co-host Sandra Smith then asked, “Congressman, part of the problem is, this was happening, this man, who was walking freely to then go kill this 22-year-old girl, he was crossing over the border at a time when your party was saying, our borders are closed, our borders are secure, this administration was saying that things are better than they were in the previous administration, there was an insistence that everything was fine. So, now, your party is crying crisis and that it’s Republicans’ fault. So, where were Democrats then?”
Moskowitz responded, “Well, both things can be true. One thing can be true, which is, first of all, illegal immigration has been happening in all sorts of administrations, it’s been going on for decades, it didn’t just start now. Another thing can be true, which is Republicans have been talking about it the last couple of years and Democrats were a little late to the party. Another thing can be true, [which] is that there was a bipartisan bill to fix it and Donald Trump killed it because he wants the issue for his campaign. All of those things can be true simultaneously. It doesn’t have to be an and/or. That being said, I’m for doing more at the border. I’m for making sure we have a secure border, if we have to close the border to do that, so be it. What I am not for is my grandparents came here escaping the Holocaust, people who are escaping persecution need to be able to come to America. But I want to be clear, on what’s going on with these folks coming here illegally and getting picked up by law enforcement and getting released, they must immediately be deported for sure, period.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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