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WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) today delivered the following remarks on the Senate floor:

Thune's remarks below (as delivered):

"Mr. President, the first bill that a new majority considers is an indication of its priorities.

"The American people are rightly concerned about the illegal immigration crisis in this country.

"And they sent a clear message in November that they want to see it addressed.

"And that is why the Republican majorities in the House and Senate have made it our first order of business to take up the Laken Riley Act.

"This bill is a small but critical step toward resolving the Biden border crisis - the first of many, I might add.

"Mr. President, the Laken Riley Act is not a complicated bill.

"It says that an illegal immigrant involved in a theft-related crime must be detained.

"That means if someone who is in the country illegally - in other words, who has already broken our laws - commits a robbery, he or she will be detained.

"If this bill had already been law, the illegal immigrant who killed Laken Riley would not have been on the streets the day that he murdered her.

"When he was cited for shoplifting less than five months before that day, he would have been detained, and Laken Riley might still be alive today.

"That's what we're trying to do here, is prevent another tragedy.

"Unfortunately, it seems that even a simple and straightforward bill to detain criminal illegal immigrants is too much for some on the left.

"Some of our Democrat colleagues have spent the week searching for a reason - any reason - to justify voting against this bill.

"For starters, we've heard that this bill would cover too many illegal immigrants.

"Well, Mr. President, the admission that there are too many individuals on our streets who have committed a crime after coming into the country illegally is an argument for this bill, not against it.

"We've also heard that Immigration and Customs Enforcement lacks the detention capacity for the number of individuals that this bill will require to be detained.

"Well, if resources are scarce, Mr. President, the answer is to provide those resources.

"The answer is not to let criminals continue to walk our streets.

"Republicans believe that keeping criminal illegal aliens off our streets is a good investment.

"And we are currently working on a bill that will provide ICE with additional agents and additional detention capacity.

"Mr. President, we've also been told that this bill will overwhelm ICE such that there won't be enough space to detain violent criminals.

"Once again, this is not an argument against the bill. It's an argument for giving ICE more resources and for quickly deporting criminals.

"Mr. President, these arguments say a lot more about Democrats' unwillingness to crack down on illegal immigration than they say about this bill.

"Look at the vote that we took on Wednesday.

"We adopted Senator Cornyn's amendment to require illegal immigrants who assault a police officer to be detained.

"Staggeringly, under current law, this is not the case.

"But two days ago, 25 of our Democrat colleagues could not even bring themselves to support detaining an illegal immigrant who assaults a police officer.

"That's right.

"More than half of the Democrats in the United States Senate apparently don't believe we should have to detain these individuals.

"I think that's out-of-step with the American people. For sure, it's out-of-step with the American people.

"Mr. President, the American people want to see an end to open borders and the chaos they have brought to communities around the country - communities like Athens, Georgia, where Laken Riley was murdered last February.

"Laken Riley's death was a tragedy - and it was preventable.

"And the bill we're considering today may prevent a similar tragedy from affecting another family.

"Laken's loved ones have had to suffer the heartbreak of losing their daughter, their sister, their friend - a bright light in their lives.

"But her mother and stepfather said of this bill, and I quote, "There is no greater gift that could be given to her and our country than to continue her legacy by saving lives through this bill."

"Saving lives, Mr. President.

"That's what this is about."

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