The father of Laken Riley, the 22-year-old nursing student allegedly killed by an illegal immigrant from Venezuela last month, urged Georgia governor Brian Kemp to declare a state of invasion “to detain and deport criminal illegals” during an address to the state senate on Wednesday.
“I stand before you a heartbroken man,” Riley said. “Part of my purpose has been taken. God gave me a beautiful daughter to father, protect, provide for, and nurture. A man with an evil heart stole her life. He was in this country and this state illegally.”
“Governor Kemp, please declare an invasion to detain and deport criminal illegals so we can prevent future families from those tragedies,” Riley continued. “Hundreds of women and children each month… are being smuggled, coerced, and trafficked in our state. They are victims, just like Laken. I thank you for honoring Laken in this way, and I humbly ask you to do more to protect us. She and my family mean the world to me.”
In response to the murder of Riley’s daughter, the Georgia house passed a bill last month that would withhold funding from localities that refuse to cooperate with federal immigration authorities on the detention, removal, and investigation of illegal aliens in the state. The bill is currently before the senate.
“My vision for every senator in this chamber is that you protect citizens from this illegal invasion,” Riley said in his Wednesday speech. “Please recognize over a million illegal aliens are in this state and making families nervous. Please recognize Athens-Clarke is a sanctuary city, and this policy and the lack of action led to the murder of my daughter.”
The man Riley referred to in the address is 26-year-old Jose Antonio Ibarra, who illegally crossed into El Paso, Texas, in September 2022 before being released from U.S. Customs and Border Protection custody. His alleged killing of Laken Riley was not his first run-in with law enforcement, Immigration and Customs Enforcement said: The agency confirmed in a statement that the New York Police Department arrested Ibarra in the fall over charges related to endangering a child under the age of 17 and a motor-vehicle license violation. He was also cited for shoplifting in Athens, Ga. weeks later.
The mayor of Athens, the town in which Ibarra allegedly killed Riley on the University of Georgia campus, said criminal behavior and illegal immigration are not connected in a press conference shortly after the crime occurred. Athens mayor Kelly Girtz cautioned “against conflating immigration and crime” and contended that “the data demonstrates that the two are not connected.”
While Athens is not a formally-designated sanctuary city, its council unanimously passed a resolution in 2019 “to foster a community where individuals and families of all statuses feel safe,” so that “all people, including those without documentation, feel welcome and comfortable interacting with local law enforcement, their local government, and all services provided by such.”