Rep. Lou Barletta (R-PA) slammed Washington, DC, politicians Monday, asking how many more Americans, such as Kate Steinle and Mollie Tibbetts, have to die before lawmakers “stand up to protect” Americans from illegal immigrants.

Law enforcement officers revealed on Tuesday that 24-year-old illegal alien Cristhian Bahena-Rivera had been charged with murdering 20-year-old college student Mollie Tibbets after she went missing from her small town home of Brooklyn, Iowa.

Congressman Barletta expressed his sorrow for the Tibbetts family and said that when he was mayor of Hazleton, Pennsylvania, he saw the pain of another family when their loved one was killed by an illegal alien.

The Pennsylvania Republican said in a press release:

My thoughts and prayers are with the Tibbetts family in this horrible time of grief. As the father of four daughters, I cannot even begin to imagine the pain they are feeling. When I was Mayor of Hazleton, I saw the similar pain of another family that was grieving after the senseless killing at the hands of someone who should never have been in the country in the first place. Their pain is something I will never forget and my heart goes out to the Tibbetts family in their time of loss.

When Barletta was the mayor of Hazleton, Derek Kichline, a 29-year-old father of three children, was murdered while working on his pickup truck outside his home. Kichline’s alleged killer was also in the country illegally, and police had previously arrested him roughly a half dozen times but released him while he was in New York City, which is a sanctuary city. Kichline’s murder pushed Barletta to lead the charge against illegal immigration. The Pennsylvania congressman was one of the first Republican lawmakers to endorse candidate Donald Trump during the 2016 Republican presidential primaries due to Trump’s tough stances on illegal immigration and securing America’s border.

Congressman Barletta hopes to defeat Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA) in the 2016 midterm elections. Casey continues to support sanctuary cities and fight against securing the U.S. southern border. A recent poll found that Barletta and Casey are in a dead heat for the U.S. Senate seat in Pennsylvania.

In a similar case, Barletta chastised Sen. Casey’s support for sanctuary cities in August, contending that a five-year-old rape victim in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was not provided “sanctuary” from criminal illegal aliens.

Rep. Barletta asked rhetorically, “How can these crimes continue to happen while our elected leaders in Congress do nothing to fix the problem?”

“How many more Derek Kichlines, Kate Steinles, and Mollie Tibbetts do politicians in Washington need to see before they stand up to protect American citizens instead of illegal immigrants?”

Barletta charged, “I will continue to fight for these victims and their families.”