The murder of a 22-year-old nursing student in Georgia by an alleged illegal immigrant last month might have been prevented if it weren’t for New York’s pro-criminal laws. That’s the opinion of State Senator Pam Helming, who says after the Venezuelan was arrested in New York City on a child endangerment charge, there was no requirement for local authorities to notify ICE because of New York law.
Helming is co-sponsoring “Laken’s Law” after Laken Riley that would allow local law enforcement to work with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) and require law enforcement and courts to notify ICE of the arrest or conviction of non-citizens.
Senator Helming said:
“Many of my constituents are reaching out to me to share their concerns about our nation’s border security and the illegal border crossings no longer impacting border states alone, but every state in our nation.
We need to fix New York’s broken pro-criminal laws and fix the nation’s broken immigration system. How many murders, and how many assaults on police officers will it take for elected leaders to wake up and do something?
I do not support increasing state spending by another $2.4 billion for housing, healthcare and legal services for New York City’s migrants. I do not support using our reserves to benefit those coming here illegally over our own taxpayers.
Further, I will continue to do everything I can to protect local control. Our counties should never be forced to manage a crisis caused by the failure of our federal and state governments and New York City.
This is about the safety of our children, our families and all New Yorkers. I will continue to bring forward solutions and do everything I can to get state leaders to prioritize public safety.”
