Image Credit: Congressman Mark Green / Facebook
The Center Square [By Casey Harper] –
House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark E. Green blasted President Joe Biden for the wave of illegal immigrants entering the U.S., saying a “migrant crime wave” is sweeping the country.
Green’s office said “President Biden and now-impeached Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas’ refusal to secure the border has helped unleash a new wave of crime across the nation.”
Green published an op-ed in National Review Sunday making that case, and his comments capture a refrain for Republicans this election year, as the border remains in crisis and high-profile crimes by illegal immigrants pile up.
Georgia college student Laken Riley has taken center stage among them after she was allegedly killed by blunt force trauma by an illegal immigrant while jogging on the University of Georgia campus.
“We have no idea if that would have changed anything, but he’s here illegally,” Riley’s father told NBC News. “He might not have been here had we had secure borders.”
During President Joe Biden’s State of the Union Address, he addressed the issue, misstating Riley’s name in the process, after Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., shouted at him during his speech.
“Lincoln Riley,” Biden responded, flubbing her name. “An innocent young woman who was killed by an illegal. But how many thousands of people have been killed by legals?”
The death of Riley and others have highlighted the illegal immigration problem and put a face on the violence that can accompany it. Federal and state data paints a more complex, albeit serious, picture of the crime problem than political messengers have delivered so far.
Hundreds of thousands of the migrants caught entering the U.S. have criminal records often including violent offenses.
Many states do not keep good data on the topic, but Texas has the best in the nation. A passage from the Texas Department of Public Safety paints the picture.
According to DHS status indicators, over 430,000 criminal aliens have been booked into local Texas jails between June 1, 2011, and February 29, 2024, of which over 301,000 were classified as illegal aliens by DHS.
Between June 1, 2011, and February 29, 2024, these 301,000 illegal aliens were charged with more than 517,000 criminal offenses which included arrests for 960 homicide charges; 65,369 assault charges; 9,383 burglary charges; 60,675 drug charges; 1,162 kidnapping charges; 26,030 theft charges; 40,320 obstructing police charges; 2,978 robbery charges; 6,543 sexual assault charges; 7,547 sexual offense charges; and 6,320 weapon charges.
About the Author:Casey Harper, The Center Square D.C. Bureau Reporter – charper@centersquare.com ~ Harper is a Senior Reporter for the Washington, D.C. Bureau. He previously worked for The Daily Caller, The Hill, and Sinclair Broadcast Group. A graduate of Hillsdale College, Casey’s work has also appeared in Fox News, Fox Business, and USA Today.