A Maryland mother whose daughter was killed by an illegal immigrant gang member called on Congress to pass a new bill that would prevent tragedies, akin to her daughter’s, in the future.
Tammy Nobles, the mother of 20-year-old Kayla Hamilton, testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday afternoon that Hamilton’s murder in July 2022 was the result of inadequate screening of illegal immigrants at the southern border and the federal government’s failure to review who it was placing unaccompanied minors with.
“All [the Department of Homeland Security and Department of Health and Human Services] had to do was make one phone call to El Salvador. They would have known that he was an MS-13 gang member, and he had a criminal record of illicit gang activity,” Nobles said at a hearing on how criminal illegal immigrants were able to enter the United States during the Biden era border crisis.
“To prevent such tragedies from happening again, the Kayla Hamilton Act will mandate background checks on [unaccompanied minors] and the sponsors, so that no person will be at risk,” Nobles said.
Rep. Russell Fry (R-SC) introduced legislation in mid-July that is meant to close loopholes in how the federal government handles immigrant children who come over the southern border alone.
In the case of Hamilton’s murderer, 16-year-old illegal immigrant Walter Martinez came over the border alone and was released to a sponsor in Maryland. Martinez ended up living in the same trailer home as Hamilton and was convicted last year of murdering Hamilton in her bed. In this case, Martinez was known by the Salvadoran government as an MS-13 gang member and tied to other crimes back home.
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Fry’s bill would require the government contact the consulate or embassy of a child’s home country to determine their criminal history; mandates children be screened for gang tattoos; keep children with gang ties in secure settings, not with other children; prohibit children from being placed with illegal immigrant adults; and require the government to collect and share background information on all household members where the child will live.
“The tragic murder of Kayla Hamilton was preventable,” Fry said in a statement. “The Biden administration’s policies opened the door to criminal exploitation of our immigration system—and the Kayla Hamilton Act ensures that no future administration can make those same reckless decisions. It’s time we put public safety, accountability, and the protection of American citizens first. This bill makes clear that the integrity of our immigration system can no longer be an afterthought.”