Testimony given Wednesday to the House Judiciary Committee underscored the impact that some “soft on crime” policies have had on ordinary Americans, from violent street attacks to a persistent fentanyl epidemic.
“Journalists and politicians love to repeat the statistic that immigrants commit fewer crimes than Americans,” Amanda Kiefer, a victim of an assault by an illegal immigrant in San Francisco, told the assembled members of Congress.
“Even if it’s not manipulated, I don’t think that stuff matters,” Kiefer said. “If we let more criminals in, it’s one too many. We have enough criminals in this country already, and we’re not doing much to stop them from committing more crimes.”
In 2008, Kiefer was with a group of friends when 20-year-old Alexander Izaguirre stole her purse and then attempted to run her over with a waiting SUV, fracturing her skull.
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Izaguirre was in the United States illegally and had been arrested months before the attack on drug charges. But he was released through a program launched by then-District Attorney Kamala Harris that allowed nonviolent offenders to avoid prison by getting job training and having their records expunged.
Vice President Kamala Harris during the debate at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia on Tuesday, September 10, 2024. (Doug Mills/The New York Times/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Kiefer’s testimony Wednesday at the hearing on the “consequences of soft-on-crime policies” harshly criticized the programs that have allowed people like Izaguirre to return to the streets, accusing the politicians responsible of following “the Marxist principle that criminals are simply victims of capitalism, and that somehow a job or some assistance will eliminate their tendency toward violent crime.”
“No-bail laws, longer sentences, and identity-based leniency are driving violent individuals back onto the streets to harm others,” Kiefer said. “There is no fear of arrest or reason to stop committing crimes.”
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“Our vice president pushed for defunding the police in the summer of 2020 and supported creating a bail fund to get repeat violent offenders out of prison, many of whom went on to commit horrific crimes.”
Kiefer insisted that many victims of violent crime could have been spared, citing concerns about “the backlog of sexual assault kits” and “our porous border.”
Rep. Jerry Nadler in the House of Representatives on January 6, 2023. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
“This is a blow,” Kiefer said. “It’s unfair. It’s heartbreaking, and Americans need to stop putting up with it. No one is taking responsibility for failing to keep the American people safe.”
Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., the committee’s ranking member, argued that it was “important to hear from victims of crime and others affected,” but said Wednesday’s hearing had “no intention of concealing the purpose of this hearing … to attack the growing popularity of Vice President Harris and Governor Walz.”
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Nadler tried to distance Kiefer’s suffering from a broader indictment of similar policies and programs.
“Of course, no crime prevention or reform strategy is perfect, and there will always be individuals who slip through the cracks and continue to break the law,” Nadler said. “That’s what happened to the individual who snatched Ms. Kiefer’s purse in 2008 while he was participating in the Back on Track program in San Francisco.”
Rep. Andy Biggs speaks to reporters on Capitol Hill on July 31, 2023.
“When then-Attorney General Harris discovered that the program had mistakenly admitted undocumented immigrants who were ineligible for jobs in the United States, she quickly closed that loophole,” Nadler said.
Nadler also came under fire after appearing to turn a blind eye and bow his head during congressional testimony on the impacts of migrant crime on victims’ families on Tuesday – sparking criticism that leading Democrats are not taking the issue seriously and disrespecting those grieving.
But Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Arizona, said that “if Democrats are successful in their policy goals, the left-wing criminal justice policies of Manhattan, Chicago, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, California, Minnesota will become commonplace across the country and will have a real impact on the federal imposition of criminal codes.”
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“I hope these hearings serve as a wake-up call to Americans to demand that leaders abandon policies that have made their communities less safe, and I hope it also reminds Congress of our demands regarding federal law. Violent crime in Minnesota remains dramatically elevated due to the lingering effects of the summer 2020 riots, in addition to prosecutors’ refusal to hold criminals accountable,” Biggs said.
Michael Lee of Fox News Digital contributed to this report.
