Several Republicans arrived at President Joe Biden’s fourth State of the Union (SOTU) address on Thursday evening with pins honoring 22-year-old Laken Riley, who was murdered last month, allegedly by an illegal alien released into the United States from the southern border.
While attending Biden’s SOTU address, Reps. Troy Nehls (R-TX), Marjorie Taylor Green (R-GA), Matt Gaetz (R-FL), Nancy Mace (R-SC), as well as other Republicans wore pins with photos of Laken Riley and the text “Say Her Name: Laken Riley.”
U.S. Rep. Troy Nehls (R-TX) wears a Donald Trump-themed shirt during President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address during a joint meeting of Congress in the House chamber at the U.S. Capitol on March 07, 2024 in Washington, DC. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
Representative Marjorie Taylor Green, a Republican from Georgia, in the House Chamber ahead of a State of the Union address at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, US, on Thursday, March 7, 2024. (Shawn Thew/EPA/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Representative Matt Gaetz, a Republican from Florida, left, ahead of a State of the Union address at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, US, on Thursday, March 7, 2024. (Ting Shen/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Representative Nancy Mace, a Republican from South Carolina, center, in the House Chamber ahead of a State of the Union address at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, US, on Thursday, March 7, 2024. (Al Drago/Bloomberg
On February 22, Laken Riley went for a morning jog around the University of Georgia (UGA) campus in Athens, Georgia. Riley was a nursing student at nearby Augusta University.
When Riley did not return for hours, her roommate called the police. Her body was ultimately found brutally disfigured near Lake Herrick on UGA’s campus. The following day, 26-year-old illegal alien Jose Antonio Ibarra from Venezuela was arrested and charged with her murder.
After crossing the southern border, Ibarra was released into the U.S. interior via Biden’s parole pipeline in September 2022. He was arrested in the sanctuary city of New York City, as well as in Athens in 2023, before Riley’s murder, but was never turned over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at
