Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., took on an immigrant rights activist in a heated moment Thursday during a Senate hearing on the "Remain in Mexico" policy, saying, What he did amounted to downplaying the murder of Laken Riley and calling immigrants illegal immigrants. Crime "is not a real problem."

"In March 2024, you wrote: 'The murder of a nursing student in Georgia has many on the right talking about immigration crime as if it were an actual problem,'" Hawley said.

Riley, a 22-year-old nursing student at Augusta University, was found dead on the University of Georgia campus in February. Jose Ibarra, a 26-year-old illegal immigrant, was found guilty on 10 counts, including felony murder. He initially pleaded not guilty but was eventually sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole in November.

"This is Laken Riley," Hawley said, her photo taped behind him. "She was murdered, she was brutally murdered by this illegal immigrant who was also in the United States on illegal parole. Isn't her death a real issue?"

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Activist Adam Isaacson, director of defense oversight for the Washington Office on Latin America, responded: "Of course it's a problem, it's a tragedy."

"I'm not saying Laken Riley's death isn't a real problem, I'm just saying immigration crime is not a real problem," Isaacson said. "Immigration crime is a much smaller problem than crime against U.S. citizens."

Hawley responded: "(Riley) died as a result of an immigration crime."

Hawley also pointed to the case of a 12-year-old St. Louis-area boy named Travis Wolfe who was killed in a car crash involving an illegal immigrant.

"I happen to think their violent murders are a real problem," he said. "In fact, you might say, sitting here and telling the Senate that the Laken Riley Act is a bad idea, that the whole thing is not an actual issue, that it's all just, what, made up? I think (it) I think it's absolutely outrageous."

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Isaacson, who said a Democratic member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee invited him to testify at the hearing, said the House has passed the bipartisan Laken Riley Act, which would require ICE to arrest and detain Illegal immigration. Immigrants who commit crimes "can cause a lot of harm" and "make me say, 'Oh, this person shoplifted.'" That's enough to get someone deported. "

Hawley countered: "I hope the record makes it clear that immigration crime is a real problem."

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“I think the Laken Riley Act is absolutely necessary,” he said. “In fact, I’m proposing an amendment to the Laken Riley Act that would cover people like Travis Wolf. I believe ICE should detain, should be required to detain, those who have committed crimes against people like Travis Wolf. Children like Wes Wolf commit violent crimes as illegal immigrants.”

Another expert who testified, Andrew Arthur, a former immigration judge and legal and policy expert at the Center for Immigration Studies, told Fox News Digital after the hearing that Hawley "expressed the sentiments that many Americans have about Immigrants feel frustrated by crime in America. "

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"We've seen many not only high-profile but shocking crimes committed by immigrants in the United States who are stopped at the border and then released back into the United States," he said. "It's called the Department of Homeland Security for a reason. "The purpose of this department is to ensure that U.S. citizens and lawfully present aliens are protected from criminal predation. Unfortunately, the Biden and Harris administrations have dropped the ball when it comes to the border."

"Criminals who under the law should never have been allowed into the United States are actually being released into this country and now they are free to prey on this country's immigrant and citizen communities," Arthur added. "Hence Donald Trump's border The first order of business for Czar Tom Homan and the President himself is to round up, detain and deport all criminal aliens and all those who prey on this country’s immigrant and citizen communities.”

Despite the drama, Arthur said it was a "good hearing" because there was "a lot of bipartisan agreement on the need to secure the border.""

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"For the first time during the Trump administration, Customs and Border Protection considered 'Remain in Mexico' an integral part of border security," he said. "I think when you look at the flow of money into the pockets of drug cartels over the past four years, When you look at the amount of funding, you know, as we've seen, there are 8 million, 10 million people coming into the United States illegally and you compare that in terms of the number of people who are being sent back to Mexico, I think the balance is definitely in favor of strengthening Border enforcement and possible re-implementation of “Remain in Mexico.”

"As long as immigrants continue to come to the United States in large numbers, the drug cartels will get rich, they will expand their capabilities, and they will ship more drugs into the United States."