Swing-state Dem in crucial Senate race facing heat for weekslong silence on heinous illegal immigrant crime

Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff, a vocal critic of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) who is running for re-election in November, is facing heat from Georgia Republicans over his lack of public comment until today on news that ICE lodged a detainer for a Georgia illegal immigrant accused of a heinous crime. 

On Jan. 27, the Department of Homeland Security announced it placed a detainer on Mexican national Kenneth Moreno Guzman after he allegedly broke into the back door of a Georgia family’s home earlier that month and raped an 11-year-old girl while threatening her 10-year-old sister in the room with a knife. 

"Another horrific tragedy for two innocent children by the hands of a criminal illegal alien. This monster should have never been in our country in the first place," Assistant Secretary DHS Tricia McLaughlin said in a press release at the time. 

"These are the victims President Trump and Secretary Noem are fighting for and the media and sanctuary politicians ignore. We have lodged an arrest detainer to ensure ICE is notified to arrest this creep before he can prey on more innocent children." 

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A Fox News Digital search did not find any public comment from Ossoff acknowledging the crime or the importance of ICE’s involvement as of Monday. 

When reached for comment on Tuesday, Ossoff told Fox News Digital, "Instead of raiding Americans’ homes without judicial warrants, demanding Americans’ papers at checkpoints, and detaining 5-year olds, Americans want ICE to return to its purpose: arresting violent criminals like Kenneth Moreno Guzman who are here illegally, and I commend the law enforcement professionals involved in this criminal’s arrest."

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Over the past few weeks, Ossoff has made several public statements critical of ICE and invoked the names of Alex Pretti and Renee Good, both killed during interactions with federal immigration agents in Minnesota. Several Republicans running for office in Georgia, including his Senate opponents, took issue with Ossoff’s weeks-long silence on Guzman's crime.

"It’s been utter silence from Jon Ossoff about the illegal alien who raped an 11-year-old girl and held her 10-year-old sister at knifepoint in Ossoff’s own backyard — just like his silence when Joe Biden opened the southern border four years ago," former Tennessee football coach Derek Dooley, running for Senate in a Republican primary to challenge Ossoff, told Fox News Digital. 

"It tells you everything you need to know about who he is and what he stands for."

Another Republican in that primary, GOP Rep. Mike Collins, told Fox News Digital that Ossoff has had "every opportunity to stand up to his liberal donors in California and New York to protect Georgia’s sons and daughters, and he has failed our state every single time."

"Every day that Jon Ossoff is in the Senate is a day these criminals have a friend in Washington, D.C.," Collins said. 

Rep. Buddy Carter, also running in the primary against Ossoff, told Fox News Digital, "Ossoff was silent on Laken Riley and is now silent on the 11-year-old victim of Kenneth Guzman. He wants illegals to vote for him, which is why he refuses to speak out against them — even though they wouldn’t be allowed into his rallies without an ID. Ossoff’s Democrat party has become the party of rapists, pedophiles, and murderers. Georgians, even those who are victims of violent crimes, are — at best — an afterthought."

A Fox News analysis of Ossoff's X posts last month uncovered no X posts from the senator's accounts including "Laken Riley" in them.

However, 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, reportedly expressing his "shock and outrage" over her death. 

Last month, on the one-year anniversary of the Laken Riley Act, Ossoff was accused by Republicans 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.

Republicans running for different offices in Georgia echoed similar sentiments as Ossoff's GOP challengers in statements to Fox News Digital. 

"How many more innocent Americans need to be raped or killed at the hands of illegal aliens before Jon Ossoff stands up to his radical leftist base?" Lookout Mountain Judicial Circuit District Attorney Clay Fuller, running for Congress to fill former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s seat in a March special election, told Fox News Digital.  "The death penalty should be pursued here."

Georgia Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, who is running for governor, told Fox News Digital, "Georgia voters should be aware that no matter how many Americans are raped or murdered in our communities at the hands of illegal aliens, Jon Ossoff will remain silent and continue to push for them to be able to vote." 

The Georgia Senate race will be highly watched as the GOP defends its 53-47 majority in the chamber in this year's midterm elections.

The Republican primary to determine who challenges Ossoff is set to take place on May 19.

Fox News Digital's Leo Briceno contributed to this report.