ATHENS, Ga. (AP) – Laken Riley, a 22-year-old nursing student at the University of Georgia, was out for a morning run when a stranger dragged her to a secluded area. kill her Shockwaves spread across campus as police searched for the suspect.
of Venezuelan man arrested He entered the U.S. illegally and was allowed to stay to pursue his immigration case, and he has made the tragedy a centerpiece of his 2024 presidential campaign.
Former President Donald Trump blamed President Joe Biden and his border policies for the fatal assault of a student at Augusta University. Conservative news sites blamed “open borders elites” for accepting the deaths of women like Riley as “collateral damage.”
This is familiar ground for Trump, who began his 2016 bid for the White House by saying Mexicans were “bringing crime.” they are rapists. And I think there are some good people out there. ” As president, he created an office For families whose loved ones have been victims of violent crimes committed by immigrants. was soon dismantled Under Biden.
Debate over the country's broken immigration system has emerged as a key election issue, as an unprecedented surge in immigration strains budgets in cities like New York, Chicago and Denver and divides some Democrats. There is. President Trump has stepped up his anti-immigrant rhetoric, saying immigrants are “tainting the blood” of the country. And he and other Republicans have suggested that immigrants commit crimes more often than U.S. citizens, despite no evidence to support those claims.
Biden criticizes Republicans for being hostile to bipartisanship border security agreement After Trump denounced it.he I will visit In addition to visiting the Texas border city of Brownsville on Thursday, President Trump is scheduled to visit another Texas border city, Eagle Pass.
President Trump posted on his social media site: “Crooked Joe Biden's border invasion is destroying our country and killing our people!” The horrific murder of 22-year-old Laken Riley at the University of Georgia should never have happened! ”
“He's an animal that came along,” President Trump said Tuesday on Michigan's WFDF radio station.
Democrats have been more silent, with many expressing sadness over Riley's death while criticizing Trump for exploiting the tragedy and using xenophobic rhetoric for political gain. Some people criticize it.
The White House expressed its “deepest condolences” to Riley's family. “If found guilty, people should be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law,” said spokesman Angelo Fernández Hernández.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, a Trump ally, predicted that Riley's death “will change this election more than anything else.”
“This is a parent's worst nightmare,” the South Carolina Republican said.
Many studies have found that immigrants are less attracted to violent crime than native-born nationals.published by National Academy of Sciences, Based on Texas Department of Public Safety data from 2012 to 2018, American-born U.S. residents are more than twice as likely to be arrested for a violent crime than undocumented immigrants.
one more journal criminology Analyzing multiple data sources from 1990 to 2014, they concluded that increases in illegal immigration are generally synchronized with or not significantly correlated with decreases in violent crime.
In a study published last year, National Economic Research BureauThe private organization found that since 1960, immigrants have been incarcerated at lower rates than U.S.-born white men.
“Democrats have become increasingly proactive in talking about immigration and pointing out the contributions of immigrants to the United States, while Republicans remain reluctant and reluctant to talk about immigration,” said Ran Abramitsky, a professor of economics at Stanford University. “Increasingly, there is a focus on issues of crime and legality.” Analyze the link between immigration and crime with reference to an analysis of Congressional statements decades ago.
John Feer, a former U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement official in the Trump administration and current director of research at the Center for Immigration Studies, dismissed the study. He pointed to immigrants who do not have legal permission to be in the United States, arguing that they are committing crimes just by being here.
“This kind of fallout will continue for years to come, even after this administration ends,” Fiele said. “And they can continue to ignore it, but the American people are paying attention.”
The victims' families have told heartbreaking stories.
Don Rosenberg, an entertainment and publishing executive, lost his 25-year-old son Drew in 2010 when a Honduran man who was living in the country illegally tried to run him over with his car repeatedly in San Francisco. When he spoke with families whose loved ones were killed by immigrants, he concluded that authorities ignore them and even protect the perpetrators.
“I thought my case was an anomaly. No, my case was the rule,” said Rosenberg, president of the Illegal Alien Crime Victims Advocacy Group.
Rosenberg said the high-profile case won't resonate with voters unless the press gives it more exposure because “Trump only speaks to people who support him.” I say deaf.
Jose Ibarra, the man charged with Riley's murder, was arrested on suspicion of illegally entering the United States near El Paso, Texas, in September 2022, amid an unprecedented immigration surge, and has been sent to pursue his case in immigration court. was released. At that time, the Border Patrol freed immigrants He was issued a summons to appear at the Immigration Bureau and was not even scheduled to appear in court. This practice added years to the time it took to resolve immigration cases. It almost stopped in February 2023.
It is unclear whether Ibarra, 26, followed the instructions or applied for asylum. He was arrested and released by New York police on child endangerment charges in August, federal officials said, but New York officials said Sunday there was no record of the arrest.
Ibera was living in Athens, Georgia, when Riley was killed last week. His lawyer did not respond to a request for comment.
President Trump addressed the killing for the first time on Friday, calling it part of what he dubbed “Biden's immigration crime.”comes after a group of Immigrants fighting with police Political upheaval has begun in New York, with renewed debate over policies that limit cooperation with federal immigration authorities.
The influential conservative site Breitbart News cited Riley's death as one of many other women unlawfully murdered in the country, including Kate Steinle, who was shot to death on a crowded San Francisco pier in 2015. associated with them. “All of their deaths were 100% preventable,” the site said. Said.
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Mr. Spagat reported from San Diego and Mr. Weissert from Washington. Jill Colvin contributed from Columbia, South Carolina
