Fani Willis and Nathan Wade weren’t the only headline out of Georgia this weekend. There was also the horrifying murder of a young woman studying at the Augusta University College of Nursing. The suspect is an illegal immigrant.
Laken Riley was a 22-year-old nursing student who was found dead after going out for a jog in a wooded area of the University of Georgia campus in Athens, GA, on Thursday. They began searching for her around 12:07pm after they received a call from a concerned friend who said she had not come home from her run. Within 30 minutes, they found her body with visible injuries and no pulse. They classified it as a homicide. There was no doubt about what happened to her.
The Suspect
The perpetrator is alleged to be 26-year-old Jose Antonio Ibarra, who has a long history with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. ICE confirmed on Sunday that the Venezuelan citizen was first arrested by Customs and Border Protection on September 8, 2022, after unlawfully entering the United States near El Paso, Texas. He was paroled and released for “further processing,” which we all know never happens. These people have a free ticket to roam the country.
On September 14, 2023, Ibarra was arrested by the NYPD and charged with acting in a manner to injure a child less than 17. The incident involved Ibarra allegedly putting his wife’s son on the back of a gas-powered moped without any helmet or restraint. He was released by the NYPD before a detainer could be issued by ICE – not that it would have mattered because New York is a sanctuary city and they would not have complied with ICE.
Flash forward to February 23, 2024. The UGA Police Department charged Ibarra with malice murder, felony murder, aggravated battery, aggravated assault, false imprisonment, kidnapping, hindering a 911 call, and concealing the death of another.
The question is: What was he doing here? How many more Americans need to die before someone will take the border situation seriously?
‘It Feels Scary’
It feels scary. It feels like who is going to be the next because we’ve let some 8.5 million of these illegals in the country over the past couple of years and we have no idea where they are. We don’t keep track of them. And while this guy had a history, there are far worse people here. There are illegals out there right now who have committed felonies and are still allowed to stay. We’ve seen it time and time again.
With this guy, he came here illegally and there was this moped violation with a kid, but it wasn’t enough for ICE to actually take an interest in him. The next thing you know, a 22-year-old American who was about to devote her life to taking care of others is found dead for no reason. It was the middle of the day. She was just trying to work on her physical fitness and health.
What American parents are going to get the next notification that their child – who did nothing wrong and was only intent on having a healthy, loving life here in the United States – is dead because we wouldn’t pay attention to this?
I think about these parents over and over. I’m sure that they have been watching the immigration debate at some level. You never think it’s going to be your child, but it always is somebody’s kid. And this poor girl, I just can’t get over her beautiful smiling face. She was just trying to work on herself, so she could help others.
She died at the hands of this loser, this absolute derelict. And now what? So, he’s going to potentially go to prison for the rest of his life? Maybe now we’ll deport him? I couldn’t give a sh-t. I don’t care. I care about all the others who are out there wanting to do harm to others.
So far, it sounds like it was just a crime of opportunity. That’s how the police described it. He saw this beautiful girl and he decided to hurt her. It’s sick. These people come here and they don’t have our shared values. It’s not that we don’t have sickos who are Americans, but we have no idea what this guy’s background was or what kind of damage he had.
Why did we let him into our country? Why didn’t we do more to stop him once we knew he was here illegally? We have zero clue about what we’re letting in here next to our young girls and boys.
The Ideological Commitment
We now have the ideological commitment to an open border on the left. I would love to say it’s just the far left, but I don’t think that is true. In this case, I think the left is pretty committed to an open border. They are starting to feel the penalties of those policies, but, as a whole, they have this belief that this is what is humane. This is what is right.
And they have a compliant news media that shares the same sympathies. The AP News headline after this murder was, “The killing of a nursing student out for a run highlights the fears of solo female athletes.” Talk about burying the lede. That is not what this story is about.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution tweeted, “Breaking a 26-year-old Athens man has been charged with murder in the death of a nursing student on the University of Georgia campus.” Yes, they wrote “Athens man.” Everybody on X went nuts over that one.
As all this happens – with the left, the policies, the compliant media – we get news that President Biden will travel to Brownsville, Texas, to meet with U.S. Border Patrol agents, local law enforcement, and leaders. Okay, sure. That will do it. That’s going to appease people in blue cities and red cities across America who understand perfectly how we got into this situation.
You can check out Megyn’s full analysis by tuning in to episode 731 on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you like to listen. And don’t forget that you can catch The Megyn Kelly Show live on SiriusXM’s Triumph (channel 111) weekdays from 12pm to 2pm ET.