Senator John Fetterman (D-Pa.) has expressed backing for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) actions targeting illegal immigrants accused of sexual offenses against minors, while Representative Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) called for the death penalty for those individuals.
In a Monday statement, ICE reported that over the past six months, it arrested 214 undocumented immigrants in the Houston area who had been charged or convicted of sex crimes involving minors. One notable arrest involved Jose Guadalupe Meza, a 40-year-old Mexican national deported four times previously, who had convictions for theft and child sexual assault. He was deported back to Mexico on June 25.
Fetterman commented on X that while he does not endorse all of ICE’s actions, he fully supports operations like these, noting that they make the nation safer and protect children. Luna, meanwhile, posted a statement calling for maximum penalties, saying: “Skip deportation. Go directly to the death penalty. Do not pass go. Do not collect $200.”
Despite his support for targeted ICE operations, Fetterman joined his Democratic colleagues in opposing the “Big, Beautiful Bill,” which would have allocated tens of billions in additional funding for ICE, including resources to complete the border wall initiated under former President Trump.
