During a visit to the United States-Mexico border, former President Donald Trump says he has spoken with the Angel Parents of Laken Riley, the 22-year-old nursing student murdered allegedly by an illegal alien in Athens, Georgia.
“Reports have come out, and we’ve been covering them, and everybody’s been … and I spoke to the parents of an incredible young lady, and you saw her the other day, you saw what happened the other day in Georgia,” Trump, the presumptive GOP nominee for president, said in Eagle Pass, Texas, on Thursday.
“And the parents are devastated, they’re incredible people,” he continued.
On Feb. 22, Laken Riley was found murdered in a wooded area on the University of Georgia campus. Riley, a nursing student at Augusta University, had gone for a run that morning, but her roommate called the police when she did not return.
Laken Riley (Photo via Facebook)
The following day, 26-year-old illegal alien Jose Antonio Ibarra from Venezuela was arrested and charged with kidnapping and murdering Riley.
Investigators said Riley was beaten to death with an object and found with her skull disfigured. Riley also sought to call the police but was stopped by Ibarra.
“This is a Biden invasion over the past three years … he’s the worst president our country has ever had, probably the most incompetent president we’ve ever had,” Trump said.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials, Ibarra arrived at the U.S.-Mexico border in September 2022 near El Paso, Texas, and was quickly released into the nation’s interior by President Joe Biden’s Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
Ibarra benefitted from Biden’s expansive catch and release network, which provides border crossers with parole to be released into the U.S. interior with a court date for an immigration hearing years, sometimes almost a decade, out.
Jose Antonio Ibarra (Clarke County Sheriff’s Office)
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.
Then, in October 2023, Ibarra was arrested 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.
Reps. Jim Jordan (R-OH), Tom McClintock (R-CA), and Mark Green (R-TN) – as well as Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee – have told DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas that he must turn over all information related to Ibarra and why he was released into the U.S. interior to begin with.
“No later than March 8th, please provide us with a copy of the case file for Jose Antonio Ibarra, including the record showing what urgent humanitarian reason or significant public benefit justified the decision to grant him parole,” the Senators wrote to Mayorkas.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at
