Angel Dad Jason Riley, the father of 22-year-old Laken Riley, said his daughter’s accused killer may not have been in the United States if “we had secure borders.”
In an exclusive interview with NBC News, Jason Riley called his daughter, Laken, “an angel” who was “so full of life” and deserves to be “raised up for the person that she is.”
Prosecutors allege that Laken Riley was murdered by 26-year-old illegal alien Jose Antonio Ibarra of Venezuela on Feb. 22 while she was out for a morning run around the University of Georgia (UGA) campus in Athens.
Ibarra, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has confirmed, arrived at the United States-Mexico border in September 2022 near El Paso, Texas, and was quickly released into the nation’s interior by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
Jose Antonio Ibarra (Clarke County Sheriff’s Office)
Jason Riley said he does not want Laken’s murder to be “used” for political reasons while suggesting that Ibarra may never have been in the U.S. to begin with had DHS not released him into the country after he crossed the border.
“I do know that … he’s here illegally, that he might not have been here had we had secure borders,” Jason Riley said. “… I feel like she’s being used somewhat politically … it makes me angry. She was much better than that.”
Jason Riley said he has only been able to get through the last few weeks since his daughter’s murder by “knowing that she’s looking down on me.”
“It has made me so much stronger,” Jason Riley said.
More than six months before Riley’s murder, Ibarra was arrested in New York City for allegedly injuring a child and violating motor vehicle rules. The city’s sanctuary policy ensured that Ibarra was released from jail instead of being turned over to ICE agents.
In October 2023, Ibarra was given a citation in Athens for shoplifting but was not turned over to ICE agents. He failed to appear in court for the charges, and a bench warrant was issued for his arrest.
Ibarra remains in police custody in Clarke County, Georgia, without bail.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at
