Rep. Anna Paulina Luna outside a House Republican Conference meeting in the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 10, 2023. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
"It's absurd to me, not only as a new mom, but also if you just look at some of the federal statutes, that there's not more strict punishments for people that are doing this," Luna said.
The Florida congresswoman added that she, similar to others across the nation, believe child predators cannot be rehabilitated, and would reoffend when back on the streets.
"I have the firm belief, which I think many of my colleagues also hold, that you can't rehabilitate a predator. And so we have to increase the federal minimums. And as you see, it's pretty simple text. It's maybe a page and a half, but it will increase the federal minimums to death penalty or life in prison," Luna said.
The skyline of Washington, D.C., including the U.S. Capitol, Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial and National Mall, Jan. 29, 2010. (Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images)
Luna’s bills come as some states and cities, such as in California or New York, have seen an increase in prostitution in broad daylight on bustling streets. Experts have previously told Fox News Digital that the immigration crisis and lax laws have likely caused the spike in brazen prostitution, which also often includes human trafficking and the trafficking of children. Luna said her bill raising the penalties against child sexual assault includes so-called "Johns" who hire underage girls.
"Anyone who is even going to consider exploiting someone like this – and you can't tell me that they don't know that these people are trafficked or that they don't know that that's a young child – but the fact is, is that, if you're knowingly doing this, you have to be held accountable," she said.
"It's pretty black and white," she said.
DESANTIS EXPANDS DEATH PENALTY LAW FOR CONVICTED CHILD RAPISTS, DEFYING SUPREME COURT PRECEDENT
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna attends a House Oversight and Accountability Committee hearing on the border crisis in the Rayburn Building on Feb. 7, 2023. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
Luna compared rape to murder, saying the assault of a child destroys the victim's life, as well as the lives of family members. She’s hopeful Democrats will join her in passing the bill, calling it a nonpartisan effort, though some Democrats might not agree with the legislation due to opposition to the death penalty.
"I think that this does speak to a deeper issue, in that, whether it's issues of rape or molestation that, you know, it destroys people's lives, and it's something that they carry with them for the rest of the time that they're adults. And so it can impact people, and we should be thinking of this very seriously," she said.
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Luna will introduce the bills Thursday in the House.
"I think that if you're really about protecting children… you have to have strict laws. And that's exactly why we've introduced it."
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