An illegal alien Tren de Aragua gang member has been convicted on all counts for murdering 22-year-old nursing student Laken Riley in Athens, Georgia in February of this year. The felon had been released from the southern border into the United States by President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris’s administration and given a work permit.
On Wednesday, an Athens judge found Jose Antonio Ibarra, an illegal alien from Venezuela, guilty of murdering Laken Riley after stalking her on an early morning jog around the University of Georgia (UGA) campus on Feb. 22, 2024.
Ibarra faces life in prison without the possibility of parole.
President-Elect Donald Trump, who drew attention to the case and met with Riley’s parents, was pleased by the verdict but said it will not make the pain any easier on the Riley family.
The day Riley was murdered, she went for a jog on a route that she ran often without any prior incident. Riley was an avid runner and nursing school student at Augusta University.
Supporters of former US President and 2024 presidential hopeful Donald Trump hold images of Laken Riley before he speaks at a “Get Out the Vote” rally in Rome, Georgia, on March 9, 2024. (ELIJAH NOUVELAGE/AFP via Getty Images)
When Riley did not return after her jog, her roommates searched for her and called UGA police. Riley’s body was discovered bludgeoned in a wooded area on the UGA campus. The following day, Ibarra was arrested and charged with Riley’s murder.
Ibarra crossed the U.S.-Mexico border near El Paso, Texas on Sept. 8, 2022. Biden and Harris’s Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released Ibarra into the U.S. interior with parole, citing a lack of available detention space even as more than 8,000 detention beds were available at the time.
That month, Ibarra ended up in the sanctuary city of New York City, New York where he requested a “humanitarian flight” to Georgia.
In November 2023, just a couple of months before Riley’s murder, Ibarra applied for an Employment Authorization Document (EAD) with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).
On December 9, 2023, Ibarra’s work permit application was approved.
In July 2023, before securing a work permit, Ibarra reported to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in New York City for a biometric appointment where he was fingerprinted. The results of those fingerprints show Ibarra had a prior criminal history.
On September 14, 2023, Ibarra was arrested for acting in a manner that could injure a child. Despite the charge, Ibarra was not prosecuted, and the arrest was expunged.