Say her name… Laken Riley!
She was murdered by a person that has been living in the US since 2022 illegally. Yet the Democrats are more concerned with her murderer being called an illegal than her murder!
‘On February 22, 2024, Laken Riley, a 22-year-old American nursing student at Augusta University, was abducted and killed while she was jogging at the University of Georgia (UGA) in Athens, Georgia. Riley’s body was found in Oconee Forest Park near Lake Herrick; her death was caused by blunt force trauma. The police described Riley’s killing as a “crime of opportunity”.
José Antonio Ibarra, a 26-year-old Venezuelan who had entered the U.S. illegally, was arrested by UGA police and has been charged with felony murder, false imprisonment, and kidnapping. There is no date set for the trial.
The murder made international news, generating extensive media attention The murder sparked a debate over immigration in the United States after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) confirmed that Ibarra is not a U.S. citizen and was caught crossing the border but was released into the United States. On March 7, 2024, the House of Representatives passed an immigration bill named the Laken Riley Act {1}, requiring federal detention of migrants who commit burglary or theft.’ –Wikipedia
‘According to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Ibarra and his wife entered the United States near El Paso, Texas, in September 2022. After being arrested and released, his wife told the New York Post they were put on a bus and sent to New York.
At that time, immigration attorney Pamela Peynado said Venezuelans had special protective status in the U.S.
“It could be political unrest, it could be a national disaster,” she said, “but we’re basically allowing these individuals to stay here for a temporary amount of time because it’s unsafe to send them back to their home country.”
Ibarra’s wife told the New York Post he was making food deliveries about a year later when police in Queens, New York, arrested him for endangering her 5-year-old son. He who was riding on the back of the moped without a helmet, according to reporting by the outlet.
At that point Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) could have taken Ibarra into custody, but according to a written ICE statement, “he was released by the NYPD before a detainer could be issued.”
11Alive Investigates reached out to the district attorney’s office in Queens to get more context on the case, but the assistant DA associated with the case refused to answer questions and its communications department denied having any information about it.
By that time, Ibarra’s brother Diego was living in Athens. It was only about a month after Ibarra’s arrest in New York that he and his brother were accused of stealing from a Walmart in Athens.
According to the police report, the two allegedly took bacon, smoked sausage, queso fresco cheese and some clothes. They were given a citation for misdemeanor shoplifting and let go.
‘ –11 Alive
{1} NOTE: all House Democrats voted no on this bill.
