Senator Helming Statement on Illegal Immigration Crisis

Senator Helming is calling for passage of legislation (S.8533) she co-sponsors that today was named “Laken’s Law” after the horrific murder of 22-year-old nursing student Laken Riley in Georgia. The suspected murderer is a Venezuelan who entered the U.S. illegally and had previously been arrested and released in New York City.

Laken’s Law 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, 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.”

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