The chairmen of two House committees have sent a letter to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas demanding information on Jose Antonio Ibarra, the Venezuelan illegal alien accused of brutally murdering 22-year-old Laken Riley on the University of Georgia campus.
Police arrested Ibarra, 26, on Friday and charged him with “malice murder, felony murder, aggravated battery, aggravated assault, false imprisonment, kidnapping, hindering a 911 call and concealing the death of another,” Channel 2 Action News reported on Tuesday.
Ibarra is believed to have had no prior acquaintance with the young nursing student.
Legal documents accuse Ibarra of kidnapping Riley between the hours of 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. while she was jogging on the Athens campus, Thursday.
The affidavits allege that Ibarra “physically” prevented Riley from making or completing a 911 call, and inflicted “severe physical harm” with an unidentified object, “disfiguring her skull.”
Ibarra then allegedly dragged Riley from the intramural fields to a “secluded area” and tried to conceal her body.
The Athens-Clarke County coroner’s office reported that Riley died from blunt-force trauma to the head.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) confirmed on Sunday that Ibarra had entered the United States illegally.
“U.S. Customs and Border Protection arrested Ibarra Sept. 8, 2022, after he unlawfully entered the United States near El Paso, Texas. He was paroled and released for further processing,” ICE said in a statement.
Records show that the illegal immigrant and his brother were allowed to repeatedly break laws in the U.S. with little consequence.
Court documents reveal that Ibarra was arrested on September 14, 2023 in New York City after driving an uninsured, unregistered car. NYPD officers arrested Ibarra and charged him with acting in a manner to injure a child less than 17 and a motor vehicle license violation. He was then released.
Records also show that he and his brother, Diego Ibarra, were later arrested in Georgia for stealing nearly $200 worth of goods from an Athens Walmart.
In 2018, Athens Mayor Kelly Girtz (D) reportedly pressured then-sheriff Ira Edwards to end the practice of holding arrested illegal immigrants in jail for 48-hour periods to give ICE officials an opportunity to pick them up for potential deportation.
Then, in 2019, Girtz and the liberal college town’s commission “passed a resolution denouncing white supremacy and declaring that undocumented people should ‘feel welcome and comfortable’ interacting with government,” the New York Times reported.
And in 2020, voters elected a liberal district attorney, Deborah Gonzalez, who pledged to “take into account collateral consequences to undocumented defendants” in making charging decisions.
Outraged Republicans are blaming Democrat immigration policies for the murder
“Even @nytimes reporting confirms that Athens Mayor @kellygirtz specifically pursued policies to welcome Laken Riley’s murderer,” said. U.S. Rep Mike Collins (R-Ga.) on X Tuesday.
“When José Antonio Ibarra fled the sanctuary of NYC, he knew his next safe haven was Athens, GA. Their virtue signaling and advertising worked as intended,” he added. “You’d have to be living in a cartoon universe to see it any other way.”
Even @nytimes reporting confirms that Athens Mayor @kellygirtz specifically pursued policies to welcome Laken Riley's murderer.
When José Antonio Ibarra fled the sanctuary of NYC, he knew his next safe haven was Athens, GA. Their virtue signaling and advertising worked as… pic.twitter.com/cPJvWkhph3
— Rep. Mike Collins (@RepMikeCollins) February 27, 2024
Donald Trump’s PAC released a “devastating” campaign ad Tuesday targeting Joe Biden’s dangerous immigration policies.
Devastating political ad from Trump’s PAC attacking Joe Biden for Laken Riley’s death. Immigration is the number one concern of all voters per Gallup poll. pic.twitter.com/msPWO0cvgi
— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) February 27, 2024
On Tuesday, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) and Subcommittee on Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement Chairman Tom McClintock (R-CA) wrote to Mayorkas demanding information and materials regarding Ibarra that they say “are critical to the Committee’s continued oversight work as Biden’s border crisis.”
“According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Biden Administration released Ibarra into the United States in 2022 after he ‘entered the U.S. illegally from Venezuela,'” the chairmen wrote, adding that his February 23 criminal arrest was not his first arrest in the United States.
“Criminal aliens exploit vulnerabilities in our nation’s immigration system to the detriment of those in the United States,” they said, adding that the Biden Administration’s lax border and immigration policies “only increase the likelihood that criminal aliens will successfully enter and remain in the U.S.”
The chairman asked Mayorkas to provide the following information and materials regarding Jose Antonio Ibarra.
1. Case history information, including, but not limited to, the alien’s immigration history, immigration benefits applications, the alien file (A-file) or consular file (including all consular notes), and immigration detention status and history.
2. Information regarding the time, date, and place of any and all of the alien’s entries into the United States.
3. Information regarding the alien’s processing by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials, including whether CBP officials were alerted to derogatory information about the alien and what questions were asked of the alien during the screening process.
4. Whether U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement lodged an immigration detainer against the alien.”
🚨 #BREAKING: @Jim_Jordan & @RepMcClintock Demand Information from Biden Administration on Illegal Alien Who Murdered Laken Riley pic.twitter.com/6ESjWRAKxJ
— House Judiciary GOP (@JudiciaryGOP) February 27, 2024