Laken Riley, 22, was killed by Jose Antonio Ibarra, 26, an illegal alien from Venezuela. He entered the country in 2022, when Biden officials said the border was closed and secure. Everyone knew it was a lie, and that policy had led to numerous preventable tragedies. Riley’s murder in Athens, Georgia, is one of those stories, becoming a national dialogue about immigration and illegal alien crime.
Riley was reported missing on February 22 after she didn’t come back from her morning run. Her body was discovered later that afternoon near the Intramural Fields on the University of Georgia campus. Ibarra was arrested the next day. To make matters worse, Ibarra was arrested twice, once in New York and the other time in Athens, on shoplifting charges. A bench warrant was issued for him last December.
The media and Democratic Party officials are trying to deflect, saying Riley’s death might be attributable to toxic masculinity. They also omitted that Ibarra was an illegal immigrant, with some publications reporting that he was an Athens man. The reactions from Athens’ elected officials have been atrocious, the remarks from Mayor Kelly Girtz was especially appalling. Yet, Athens-Clarke County Commissioner Melissa Link might be worse:
Mayor of Athens, Ga. in the wake of the first murder at UGA in 30 yrs. Listed threats: Trump, Charlottesville, possible vitriol from American citizens to illegal immigrants. Not listed: Crime, murderers, his duty to citizens. He is the Norm joke. A blinkered, insane response. pic.twitter.com/tGtyWXpPzc
— Mary Katharine Ham (@mkhammer) February 28, 2024
Last night when given the opportunity to respond to murder of Laken Riley, Athens-Clarke County Commissioner Melissa Link said the following at the Mayor & Commission meeting —
— Houston Gaines (@houstongaines) March 6, 2024
"I am as disgusted by the crime as I am the hysterical glee with which so many have seized upon this…
"I am as disgusted by the crime as I am the hysterical glee with which so many have seized upon this tragedy to promote division, bigotry, and hate. This tragedy offers yet another reminder that monsters are real and they come in all shapes and sizes. With terrifying regularity, they come in the form of white men with weapons of war fueled by mental illness, bigotry and right wing conspiracy theories who slaughter classrooms full of school children, congregants in churches, temples and mosques, hapless shoppers and revelers at concerts, nightclubs, festivals and parade routes. Mass murders have become so routine they are only met with thoughts and prayers from the cowardly Republican legislators, governors and judges who enable unfettered access to such weapons of war. And everyday, monsters come in the form of young men behind the wheel of big trucks and fast cars who ignore the rules of the road - endangering the public with impunity often walking away from fatal crashes with barely a slap on the wrist."
"We live in a violent patriarchal society in which even our own bodies are not our own - a society in which desperate mothers are sent home from emergency rooms to suffer unassisted miscarriages as they bleed out on their bathrooms floors and raped little girls are forced to give birth to their step daddies babies. In which at least two of our Supreme Court justices have been credibly accused of sexually assault and at least three were appointed by a traitorous, insurrectionist, bigoted, lying, cheating, fraudulent, philandering rapist. I call upon those who are so overcome by Laken Riley’s death to channel that outrage towards protecting the living."
Dear lord.