Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., questions a Democrat-invited expert on his statements about Laken Riley's murder during a hearing on the "Remain in Mexico" policy by the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee in Washington, D.C. on Thursday. (Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs livestream)
The activist, Adam Isacson, who works as director of defense oversight at the Washington Office on Latin America, responded by saying: "Of course it’s an issue, it’s a tragedy."
"I didn’t say that Laken Riley’s death was not an actual issue, I said that migrant crime is not an actual issue," said Isacson. "Migrant crime is much less of an issue than U.S. citizen-committed crime."
To which Hawley answered, "[Riley] is dead because of migrant crime."
Hawley also pointed to the case of a St. Louis-area 12-year-old named Travis Wolfe who was killed in a car crash involving an illegal immigrant.
"I happen to think that their violent murders are actual issues," he said. "And the fact that you would say otherwise, sit here and advise the Senate that the Laken Riley Act is a bad idea, that the whole thing is not an actual issue, it’s all just, what, made up? I think [it] is outrageous. I think it's absolutely outrageous."
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Migrants at the southern border are encountered in Arizona. (U.S. Border Patrol)
"We've seen many not only high profile but shocking crimes that have been carried out in the United States by migrants who were stopped at the border and then released into the United States," he said. "It's called the Department of Homeland Security for a reason; the purpose of this department is to ensure that citizens of the United States and aliens who are lawfully here are protected from criminal predation. Unfortunately, on this at the border, the Biden-Harris administration dropped the ball."
"Individuals who are criminals, who by law should not be allowed into the United States at all, were actually released into this country and now they are free to prey on both migrant and citizen communities in this country," Arthur added. "So, job one for Tom Homan — Donald Trump's border czar — and the president himself is going to be rounding up, detaining and removing all the criminal aliens, all the individuals who are preying upon both migrant and citizen communities in this country."
Despite the theatrics, Arthur said it was a "good hearing" because there was "a lot of bipartisan agreement on the need to secure the border."
In this August 2019 photo, migrants — many of whom were returned to Mexico under the Trump administration's "Remain in Mexico" policy — wait in line to get a meal in an encampment near the Gateway International Bridge in Matamoros, Mexico. (AP)
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"Customs and Border Protection referred to Remain in Mexico as indispensable for border security the first time that it was used under the Trump administration," he said. "I think that when you look at the amount of money that has flowed into the cartels' pockets over the last four years, you know, as we've seen, 8 million, 10 million people come unlawfully into the United States and you contrast that to the number of people who were sent back to Mexico, I think that the balance is definitely in favor of enforcing the border and potentially re-implementing Remain in Mexico.
"As long as the migrants continue to come to the United States in large numbers, the cartels are going to get rich, they're just going to expand their capabilities and they're just going to ship more drugs into the United States."
Peter Pinedo is a politics writer for Fox News Digital.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/hawley-slams-dem-activist-downplaying-migrant-crime-not-actual-issue