The devastated father of murdered 22-year-old Georgia nursing student Laken Riley has suggested that Democrat President Joe Biden’s open border policies may have been to blame for his daughter’s death.
Jason Riley said Monday that the Venezuelan illegal alien accused of murdering the innocent young woman last month “might not have been here” had the border been secure.
During an interview with NBC’s “Today,” Mr. Riley spoke publicly for the first time since his daughter’s death.
However, his view that a stronger immigration policy would have made a difference after his daughter’s slaying has ignited a debate about Biden’s border crisis.
“We have no idea if that would have changed anything, but he’s here illegally,” Jason Riley said.
“That he might not have been here had we had secure borders.”
26-year-old Venezuelan Jose Ibarra has been charged with Riley’s murder.
He illegally entered the United States through El Paso, Texas, in 2022.
He was then freed into the U.S. interior on border parole.
He initially lived in New York City, where he was arrested for endangering a child prior to his move to Athens, Georgia.
Ibarra is charged with malice murder, felony murder, aggravated battery, aggravated assault, false imprisonment, kidnapping, hindering a 911 call, and concealing the death of another in connection to Riley’s murder.
Ibarra lived with his two brothers in an apartment complex near the University of Georgia campus.
The building is about a five-minute walk from the approximate scene where he allegedly killed the 22-year-old.
The murder suspect’s two brothers, Diego Ibarra, 29, and Argenis Ibarra, 24, had also entered the country illegally under Biden’s policies.
Riley, a nursing student from Augusta University, was found dead on the UGA campus on February 22.
Her roommate had reported to authorities that she had not returned home from her morning run.
Earlier this month, Riley’s mother, Allyson Phillips, slammed President Biden as “pathetic” for saying her daughter’s name incorrectly during his State of the Union speech.
The president had seemed to refer to the 22-year-old as “Lincoln” rather than “Laken” in his speech.
“Lincoln Riley, an innocent young woman who was killed by an illegal,” Biden said.
“That’s right. But how many thousands of people are being killed by legals?”
The president’s off-script moment was prompted by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) shouting at Biden, “Say her name!” while he was discussing the border crisis.
Her father told the outlet that he feels his daughter is “being used somewhat politically.”
“It makes me angry,” Jason Riley said.
“She was much better than that.
“She should be raised up for the person that she is.”
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