ATLANTA — Former President Donald Trump, speaking at the southern border in Texas on Thursday, said he had spoken to Laken Riley's parents about the 22-year-old nursing student's shocking murder case and said they were "devastated beyond belief."
The former president and 2024 candidate said Riley's parents were "incredible people" who "can never be the same."
Trump, whose visit to the border came on the same day as President Joe Biden's, used his remarks at the border to tie the case to immigration and border security. Riley's killing has become a flashpoint in the debates on border security due to the accused killer's immigration status. Jose Ibarra, 26, was arrested and faces several charges in connection to Riley's death, including malice murder, false imprisonment and concealing the death of another.
According to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Ibarra had previously been arrested for "unlawfully entering the United States" near El Paso, Texas, in September 2022. He was arrested and released and then sent to New York, where he was arrested once again nearly a year later but was released before a detainer could be issued by ICE.
It's believed he then relocated to Athens, where the killing occurred on the campus of the University of Georgia last week. 11Alive has previously reported on the possible gaps in immigration law enforcement leading up to Ibarra's alleged killing of Riley.
Trump cast the case Thursday, as other conservatives have done in the wake of Riley's death, as a product of lax border enforcement. The U.S. National Institute of Justice notes, however, that research on immigration and crime "suggests that those who immigrate (legally or illegally) are not more likely, and may even be less likely to commit crime in the U.S."
"Joe Biden will never say Laken Riley's name, but we will say it and we will remember it," Trump said. "We're not gonna forget her. It's just been a horrible story that we've had to live with for the last few days, it's hard to believe. And her parents are just, they can never be the same -- great people."
Riley is being laid to rest with a funeral service Friday at her hometown Woodstock City Church.
More on Laken Riley's case
The UGA Police Department was called by a concerned friend around noon on Feb. 22 to report that Riley had gone for a run at the fields on UGA's campus but had not returned, according to authorities. That's when officers headed down, arriving around 12:38 p.m. to search for Riley. Not too long after, she was found dead.
According to officials, Riley was a UGA student through the Spring Semester 2023 before she transferred to the Augusta University College of Nursing program at Athens, where she was currently enrolled as a junior and on the Dean's List. An outpouring of condolences and statements from those who knew Riley described her as a beloved person in the community.
The next day, Ibarra was arrested and charged with malice murder, felony murder, aggravated battery, aggravated assault, false imprisonment, kidnapping, hindering a 911 call, and concealing the death of another person.
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