Conviction in Laken Riley murder trial highlights country's breaking point on illegal immigration

The illegal Venezuelan immigrant who was found guilty of murdering Georgia nursing student Laken Riley highlights the toll that illegal immigration has taken on the U.S. and why many voted against it in the most recent election. On Wednesday, Jose Ibarra was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

A judge in Georgia convicted Ibarra on three counts of felony murder, one count of malice murder, one count of kidnapping with bodily injury, one count of aggravated assault with intent to rape and one “peeping Tom" count.

U.S. immigration records reviewed by Just the News show that Ibarra entered the United States in 2022 and was flagged for illegal entry and removal. A year later he was given parole under the Biden administration’s then-new policy and provided a work permit, the records show.

Prosecutors said during the trial that Ibarra, 26, who is linked to the Tren de Aragua gang, was out “hunting for females” on Feb. 22 when he targeted Riley, 22, while she was jogging. 

The Homeland Security Department revealed last year that the backlog of tracking and vetting illegal aliens inside the U.S. had nearly doubled under President Joe Biden to more than six million while arrests of suspected terrorists and violent offenders have also exploded.

The Harvard Center for American Political Studies conducted a poll in October that showed that immigration was a top issue for voters going into the 2024 election. The poll showed that only 36% of Americans approved of how Biden was handling immigration. Trump ran on the issue of getting illegal immigrants out of the U.S., particularly the ones who committed crimes such as murder. 

"JUSTICE FOR LAKEN RILEY!" Trump wrote in a post on TRUTH Social following the conviction. "The Illegal who killed our beloved Laken Riley was just found GUILTY on all counts for his horrific crimes. Although the pain and heartbreak will last forever, hopefully this can help bring some peace and closure to her wonderful family who fought for Justice, and to ensure that other families don’t have to go through what they have. We love you, Laken, and our hearts will always be with you. It is time to secure our Border, and remove these criminals and thugs from our Country, so nothing like this can happen again!"

Georgia GOP Gov. Brian Kemp said that the U.S. border policies under the current administration failed Riley. 

"Open border policies failed Laken Riley and today's verdict is a reminder that the safety of our communities must remain our number one priority," Kemp said following the verdict.

Former Democratic President Bill Clinton had also called out the border policies prior to the election, arguing that Riley might be alive if they had been different.

“You had a case in Georgia not very long ago, didn’t you?” Clinton said during a campaign event for Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris last month. “They made an ad about a young woman who had been killed by an immigrant. Yeah, well, if they’d all been properly vetted that probably wouldn’t have happened.”

Riley was not the only woman that was killed by an illegal immigrant during Biden's time in the White House. 

An illegal alien from El Salvador, Victor Antonio Martinez Hernandez, 23, was charged in connection to the murder of the Maryland mother of five, Rachel Morin  in June of this year. He was arrested in Tulsa, Oklahoma, for a crime spree that began in El Salvador and continued in multiple cities across the United States, police said.

Earlier this month, police in New York arrested 20-year-old Deiby Vidal Carrillo for allegedly strangling naturalized citizen Zoraida Leo to death. Carrillo is an illegal migrant from Colombia and was not properly vetted before coming to the U.S., according to a report from Fox News Digital.

Trump recently appointed "border czar" Tom Homan who he said will be in charge of deporting large amounts of illegal immigrants. "I’ve known Tom for a long time, and there is nobody better at policing and controlling our borders," Trump said on TRUTH Social. "Likewise, Tom Homan will be in charge of all Deportation of Illegal Aliens back to their Country of Origin. Congratulations to Tom. I have no doubt he will do a fantastic, and long awaited job."