Georgia Republican Party Chair Josh McKoon expressed the party’s sympathies to the family and friends of Laken Riley, the 22-year-old nursing student who was slain on the University of Georgia (UGA) campus.
He described the death of Riley (pictured above) as a “preventable tragedy” and pointed to sanctuary city policies and the Biden administration’s border crisis after police identified her alleged murderer as Venezuelan illegal immigrant Jose Ibarra.
“This should have NEVER happened,” wrote McKoon. “President Biden’s wide open border policy allowed a Venezuelan illegal alien to come here and commit this crime.”
McKoon then pointed to the April 2018 decision by Clarke County Sheriff Ira Edwards to stop honoring detainers by United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), essentially making Athens a sanctuary city that does not report illegal immigrants to federal authorities for deportation.
“Incredibly, after being arrested in New York City, ICE was unable to detain this illegal alien because New York City authorities released him almost immediately,” said McKoon.
McKoon then noted, “Despite this illegal alien’s arrest for shoplifting and subsequent bench warrant for failure to appear to answer those charges in court, the Athens-Clarke County authorities apparently did nothing to alert ICE or attempt to apprehend this illegal alien, which would have prevented this murder.”
https://t.co/7hTkQ8HX9T #gapol #gagop pic.twitter.com/fPtez3mWPH
— GAGOP (@GaRepublicans) February 26, 2024
After Representative Mike Collins (R-GA-10) claimed Athens was a sanctuary city, officials supplied the media with an 18-page December memo asserting the city is not a sanctuary for illegal immigrants.
Similarly, the Clarke County Sheriff Department claimed it reversed the 2018 policy the same day it was implemented.
However, the law enforcement agency revealed its current policy does not consider an ICE detainer, without an accompanying warrant, a sufficient reason to hold an illegal immigrant.
Even if ICE files a detainer on an illegal immigrant, the sheriff’s department policy requires law enforcement to release such individuals unless federal immigration officials retrieve the suspect within 24 hours.
“Since being elected Chairman of the Georgia Republican Party, I have said every day I wake up worried that today would be the day that Joe Biden and his fellow Democrats having reckless regard for the safety of American citizens would result in an attack that would injure or kill our fellow Americans,” wrote McKoon.
He continued, “Sadly, now that day has come here in Georgia.”
In response to critics who argue tough immigration policies “lack compassion,” McKoon said he would rather show compassion for the Riley family.
“We don’t have to continue to live like this,” declared McKoon. “We can and should elect leaders that place the value of American lives over virtue signaling, so that no more families and communities have to experience the anguish and horror of losing a loved one to illegal alien violence.”
Ibarra’s wife explained the couple entered the country illegally in 2022 and married to join their asylum cases, but that Ibarra left his family behind in New York to find better work in Georgia, where his brother already had multiple confrontations with law enforcement.
– – –
Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Georgia Star News, The Virginia Star, and The Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Laken Riley” by GoFundMe.
