Noem is optimistic: Laken Riley would still be alive if she were DHS secretary, as freshman senator criticizes Mayorkas

Freshman Republican Sen. Bernie Moreno criticized the Biden administration’s immigration policy in his first Senate hearing as President-elect Trump’s nominee for DHS secretary. Kristi Noem He sat in front of the Senate Homeland Security Committee.

““To be clear, would Laken Riley be alive today if you had been Secretary of Homeland Security?” Moreno asked Noem during her confirmation hearing before the Senate Homeland Security Committee on Friday.

“Senator, my hope is that that is true, yes,” Noem responded, as the Senate debates the Laken Riley Act with the goal of preventing crimes such as the murder of Georgia nursing student Laken Riley, killed last year. by an illegal immigrant, who was sentenced to life imprisonment without parole.

During his line of questioning, Moreno implemented the theme of asking Noem about Mayorkas’ immigration history and whether illegal immigration statistics would continue under her watch.

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“So I think sometimes in D.C. we tend to complicate things,” Moreno told Noem. “There’s a current secretary of Homeland Security, so why don’t we take this opportunity to do a little review of the work and compare and contrast it ? To you? So if you don’t mind, I’ll ask you some questions and you can give me an answer. Secretary Mayorkas allowed about 400 people on a terrorist watch list to enter this country illegally. If you were confirmed as Secretary of Homeland Security, how many people on the terrorist watch list would you allow into this country?

Noem responded that she would “work every day” to make sure the number is “zero.”

““When you look at the 382 that Joe Biden has let in and the policies continue, it’s shocking and needs to be changed immediately,” Noem said.

“Mayorokas let in about 12,000 murderers. How many of them would you like to let into this country?” Moreno asked.

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“My goal every day would be to not let murderers into this country,” Noem said.

“The Mayorkas let in 16,000 rapists. How many would you like to let in?” Moreno continued.

“I would work to make sure that no one was allowed into this country,” Noem responded.

Moreno continued to ask Noem about the 600,000 illegal immigrants with criminal convictions Mayorkas let in, and she responded by saying that any migrant with criminal convictions would be “immediately expelled.”

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Noem also told Moreno that the practice of flying hundreds of thousands of migrants to the United States on planes would stop under her watch.

“And how many illegals do you plan to house in luxury hotel rooms in Manhattan, at a cost of $6,000 a month?” Moreno asked.

“Clearly, senator, during this election, the American people said they did not support that and would not be part of this new administration,” Noem said.

““I’m going to end my time with a surprising statistic and, in fact, a challenge to the Democratic Party,” Moreno said after asking Noem to confirm other aspects of the Biden administration’s immigration policy that she would stop.

“When Mayorkas was confirmed, every Democrat voted to confirm him, and six Republicans joined all 50 Democrats in that confirmation. If we get to the vote, hopefully, President, we can do it on Monday, because we can’t wait a single day without If you’re in charge of that department, we should have 100 percent, 100 senators will vote for your confirmation. In my opinion, this will be the litmus test of whether we have a Democratic Party that really takes bipartisan things like that seriously. secure this country and protect our citizens.”