Representative Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) suggested President-elect Donald Trump is on board with raising the mandatory minimum sentencing for sexual crimes, especially those against children, in recent comments to Fox News Digital, reiterating that "you cannot rehabilitate predators."
Rep. Luna introduced legislation in April that would raise the federal minimum sentence for child sexual abuse to life imprisonment or death, which garnered publicity but little action in Congress, which she told Fox News Digital.
"And then President Trump actually started talking about it on the campaign trail right before his election," Rep. Luna noted, "So now that President Trump has really taken this issue and elevated it, I think that there is a lot more support for it."
During the 2024 Election, Trump announced plans to expand the death penalty to include human traffickers, drug dealers, and illegal aliens who murder American citizens.
The Florida Congresswoman pointed to the border crisis as driving popular support, as "there are a lot of people that have been impacted, specifically women and specifically children," likely referencing several high-profile sexual assaults and murders committed by illegal aliens, such as the cases of Laken Riley and Jocelyn Nungaray.
"But the unfortunate truth is, the United States has a very big problem with child pornography, sex trafficking, and those crimes against children and women, especially so for me specifically, this is a very personal issue," Luna continued, saying she fought against such crimes before entering politics.
While she noted that the death penalty had been a matter of debate, she reiterated that "you cannot rehabilitate a predator." She added, "I think that if you are going to continue to push forward in a moral society, that you need to ensure that people like this that are predators are taken off the streets permanently."
Governor Ron DeSantis (R-FL) has been ahead of the curve, signing a bill making sexual assault of minors under 12 a capital offense in Florida in May 2023.
