Congress passed the Laken Riley Act as Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez stood firmly against it.
The New York Democrat ripped Republicans for the bill which is named after the 22-year-old Georgia nursing student who was killed by an illegal immigrant. The Senate voted to approve it 64-35 and the House followed with a 263-156 vote that included 46 Democrats.
Ocasio-Cortez unloaded in a rant on the House floor, warning that the legislation is “corruption in plain sight.”
The bill will “expand mandatory detention to include noncitizens convicted of or charged with burglary, larceny, theft or shoplifting, as well as those who admit to committing those crimes,” CBS News reported. “The legislation also includes a provision that empowers state attorneys general who claim their states or residents have been harmed by immigration policies to sue the federal government.”
Ocasio-Cortez is convinced the measure will mean “private prison camps” will open in the nation’s cities.
GEO Group is the nation’s largest private prison company.
Look for the members of Congress who either buy their stock or take their money and vote YES on this bill. They are not voting for you – they’re voting to enrich themselves.
It’s corruption in plain sight. https://t.co/VCHRRQurlx
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) January 22, 2025
“I want the American people to know, with eyes wide open, what is inside this bill because we stand here just two days after President Trump gave unconditional pardons to violent criminals who attacked our nation’s Capitol on January 6th, and these are the people who want you to believe, who want us to believe that they’re trying to quote-unquote ‘keep criminals off the streets,’ when they are opening the floodgates,” AOC began her speech.
“In this bill, if a person is so much as accused of a crime… if someone wants to point a finger and accuse someone of shoplifting, they will be rounded up and put into a private detention camp and… sent out for deportation without a day in court, without a moment to assert their right, and without a moment to assert the privilege of innocent until proven guilty without being found guilty of a crime they will be rounded up,” she continued her rant, proving she is more concerned about the illegal criminals than Americans.
“That is what is inside this bill, a fundamental suspension of a core American value, and that is why I rise to oppose it,” she declared.
AOC says the Laken Riley act is about “opening private prison camps” in American towns:
“When a private prison camp opens in your town and they say, ‘we didn’t know this was going to happen,’ know that they did and they voted for it.”pic.twitter.com/RMyuGlWt4b
— Western Lensman (@WesternLensman) January 22, 2025
“You may wonder why so many of our friends across the aisle who care so deeply about the rule of law happen to be so desperate to pass this bill,” Ocasio-Cortez continued. “Look no further than the price tag of this bill, $83 billion. [Lawmakers] know that it can’t be paid for. They know that the capacity is not there, and you know what will be there? Private prison companies are going to get flooded with money.”
“Look at what members of Congress are invested in private prison companies who receive this kind of money and look at the votes on this bill,” she claimed. “It is atrocious that people are lining their pockets with private prison profits in the name of a horrific tragedy and the victim of a crime. It is shameful. It is absolutely shameful.”
Social media users weighed in on what was actually “shameful” about AOC’s rant.
Look at you, siding with criminals again. It’s like a theme with you.
— TheFOO (@PolitiBunny) January 22, 2025
Demagoguing for illegals, as usual.
— Western Lensman (@WesternLensman) January 22, 2025
Does AOC have any idea what she is talking about?
— Cash Loren (@CashLorenShow) January 22, 2025
The Democrats have officially lost their minds.
— Ellie A (@EllieGAnders) January 22, 2025
CC: @AOC pic.twitter.com/Upd6F0gnjo
— Western Lensman (@WesternLensman) January 22, 2025
She acts like a petulant child.
— Gigi Johnston (@GJohnston2014) January 22, 2025
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