Republicans in Georgia and beyond are clapping back at Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., after the Georgia Democrat running for reelection this year slammed his GOP opponents for not demanding a probe into the shooting of Alex Pretti by federal immigration authorities.
“Will one, even ONE, Republican U.S. Senate candidate in Georgia join other GOP leaders who are calling for a full, transparent, independent investigation into Alex Pretti’s killing in Minnesota?” Ossoff questioned this week in a post on X, tagging Rep. Buddy Carter, R-Ga., Rep. Mike Collins, R-Ga., and former college football coach Derek Dooley, all of whom are running against Ossoff to replace him in November.
Meanwhile, Carter, Collins and a chorus of other Republicans clapped back at Ossoff’s social media post, chastising him for worrying more about Pretti’s murder than the illegal immigrant crime impacting his own constituents, such as the murder of Laken Riley, a Georgia college student, at the hands of an illegal immigrant while on a run in 2024.
Thursday is the one-year anniversary of President Trump’s signing of the Laken Riley Act on Jan. 29, 2925, the first bill he signed during his second term. The Act broadened the detainment and repatriation requirements for illegal aliens who commit certain crimes, such as shoplifting and driving under the influence. Riley’s murderer had previously been convicted of stealing prior to her death.
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“Jon: we need to fully fund DHS, so ICE can continue deporting violent criminal illegal immigrants from our streets. I stand with President Trump and law enforcement. When will you say one, even ONE, word about the illegal aliens arrested just this month for raping, kidnapping, and molesting your constituents?” questioned Collins.
“Georgia Sen. Ossoff tweeting about Minneapolis, nothing about this,” Fox News radio host Guy Benson added, pointing to an incident roughly two weeks ago when an illegal alien in Georgia broke into a home and raped an 11-year-old girl in her bedroom that she shared with her 10-year-old sister.
“When the left rails against ICE and protests immigration enforcement, these are the criminals they’re defending,” added Carter. “Where was Ossoff’s outrage when Laken Riley was murdered? Why is he more concerned with defending Minnesota’s criminals than the people of Georgia?”
While Ossoff held an event honoring the life of the slain college student shortly after her murder, Ossoff’s critics have pointed to the fact they could not find the Georgia Democrat mentioning her name on X, formerly Twitter, even once. A Fox News analysis of Ossoff’s X posts uncovered no X posts from the senator’s accounts including “Laken Riley” in them.
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Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, was among those to throw shade at Ossoff for this, posting a nervous emoji above a separate post Cruz retweeted from Republican social media commentator Greg Price, which stated, “To this day, Jon Ossoff has never even so much as tweeted about Laken Riley.”
While Ossoff may not have mentioned Laken Riley on X, the U.S. Senator from Georgia did take time to honor her life inside the Georgia state legislature a few days after she was murdered.
“I want to begin by expressing on behalf of all Georgians, as I did in phone conversations over the weekend with Augusta University President Brooks Keel and UGA President Morehead, our shock and outrage at this horrific murder of a young woman, Laken Riley, in Athens,” Ossoff told state lawmakers during an address to state senators, followed by a moment of silence that Ossoff requested.
On Thursday, the one-year anniversary of the Laken Riley Act, Chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., also accused Ossoff of “flip-flopping” on the Laken Riley Act.
Ossoff initially voted, along with all Senate Democrats, against an amendment that would have passed a modified version of the act via a defense appropriations bill in March 2024. However, Ossoff did eventually vote in favor of the stand-alone Laken Riley Act many months later in the next Congress in January 2025.
But Scott claims Ossoff became one of only 12 Democrats to vote in favor of the Laken Riley Act due to “political calculations.”
“Georgians can’t trust him. Jon Ossoff flip-flopping on the Laken Riley Act is just another example of him making election-season calculations that benefit his political career, not Georgians,” Scott, who is also the chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), told Fox News Digital. “Voters can always count on Ossoff to do one thing: look out for his political career, not Georgians. Georgia voters are desperate for a Senator who fights every day for them, and I’m working tirelessly to make sure we replace Ossoff in November.”
Ossoff’s office did not provide comment in time for publication.
