The UGA Murder: An Outrageous Cascade of 'Progressive' Failures

The brutal on-campus murder of 22-year-old University of Georgia nursing student -- allegedly by an illegal immigrant with a history of arrests and criminal citations -- isn't merely a tragedy. It's an outrageous atrocity that could and should have been prevented. Instead, a series of 'progressive' policy failures allowed this horrific crime to happen. Based on what we know, the Venezuelan suspect came to the United States illegally in 2022, entering through the southern border amid President Biden's border crisis. He was among the millions of unlawful migrants who have been released into the United States by the current administration. The following year, the same man was arrested in New York City on several charges. Needless to say, considering the jurisdiction, he was released:

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Sunday confirmed that the Venezuelan national charged in connection with the murder of 22-year-old Georgia nursing student Laken Riley entered the U.S. illegally in 2022 and had previously been arrested in New York City. Fox News had previously reported that 26-year-old Jose Antonio Ibarra, charged with the murder of Riley on the University of Georgia campus, had crossed into the U.S. illegally near El Paso in September 2022 and was paroled into the U.S...ICE also confirmed that Ibarra had been arrested by the New York Police Department a year later, on Sept. 14, 2023, and "charged with acting in a manner to injure a child less than 17 and a motor vehicle license violation." ...Ibarra was released before a detainer could be issued. NYC is also a "sanctuary city" which generally restricts law enforcement from complying with ICE detainers.

Shortly after facing no consequences in New York, Ibarra relocated to Georgia. As Matt highlighted last night, it appears his law-breaking didn't stop there. And why would it? This individual broke our immigration laws with impunity, then violated New York laws with impunity, so why respect Georgia laws? According to a Georgia lawmaker, the suspect was cited for shoplifting in the Athens area the month following his New York arrest. He walked, but was ordered to appear at a future court date. That date came and went; he was a no-show. Of course he was. A bench warrant was issued for his arrest:

Update —> Via Georgia lawmaker @houstongaines, here is the shoplifting citation (October) and subsequent bench warrant (December) against the UGA murder suspect. These are in addition to the suspect’s previous arrest in NY (released) and illegal entry into the US (released): https://t.co/tT5n3LDqMx pic.twitter.com/r2XMZNYoxH
— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) February 25, 2024

The arrest sought in that warrant never came until after Ibarra allegedly murdered an innocent young woman in cold blood. Step after step, this man's lawbreaking was accommodated and indulged. He should never have been in the US to begin with, then his additional crimes came with little to no repercussions. Then, officials say, he graduated to murder. An absolute disgrace:

Failure after failure led to the brutal murder of a UGA student, which was allegedly committed by an illegal immigrant who’d been arrested & cited for several previous crimes in two different states: pic.twitter.com/MH0jbh6jfI
— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) February 26, 2024

Governor Brian Kemp, who has been consistently critical of the Biden administration's catastrophic border policies, is right to demand answers:

For more than two years, we’ve demanded action to secure our southern border and answers from the White House about who’s coming into our country.

We’ve yet to get an answer, we’ve yet to see action, and now a tragedy has happened.

We need answers, and we need action, from… pic.twitter.com/pwa7Q5BKsA
— Brian Kemp (@BrianKempGA) February 25, 2024

The 'news' media is, naturally, doing its thing, given the damage this entire heinous episode could do to its preferred political party and prized ideological narratives:

You would have no idea from reading this story that the alleged murderers in BOTH cases — the killing of Laken Riley and the killing of Mollie Tibbetts — were in the country illegally https://t.co/U0ngsbCiy4 pic.twitter.com/dY2vRzorCU
— Peter J. Hasson (@peterjhasson) February 25, 2024

Hi, female athlete here. I ran this exact trail every single week of my college career. I guess I could have been snuffed out before I graduated, had a career, family, and the professionals at the AP would lie about the suspect bc it fits a preferred narrative. Ibarra is not… https://t.co/8V5AQVRo9l
— Mary Katharine Ham (@mkhammer) February 25, 2024

Classic media pattern. When reporting on the story per se, the murderer was an “Athens man.” When writing the “Republicans pounce” piece, they allow that it was an illegal immigrant, but only to criticize those who noticed. https://t.co/Yzz77TXUhD
— Charles C. W. Cooke (@charlescwcooke) February 24, 2024

NBC, CBS Ignore Georgia Student's Alleged Murderer Is An Illegal Immigrant https://t.co/a9QDxVVFRQ
— NewsBusters (@newsbusters) February 25, 2024

I'm sure some leftists in the press would prefer if this story did not break through as national news, in light of its political implications regarding illegal immigration, and both 'sanctuary' and soft-on-crime policies. It's a very unhelpful set of facts to their preferred storylines. They also probably want to 'protect' the public from considering any Wrongthink about illegal immigrants being dangerous. As a point of fact, statistically speaking, immigrants (including illegal immigrants) are less likely to commit crimes than the general US population. But that's not the point here. The point is that Laken Riley's alleged killer should not have been in the United States. He should have faced real consequences for his previous criminal acts. If any of our laws had been properly respected or enforced, Riley would still be alive. Instead, she is gone. What a blood-boiling outrage.