The White House has broken its silence on the murder of 22-year-old Georgia nursing student Laken Riley, where the suspect is believed to be an undocumented migrant from Venezuela.
“We would like to express our deepest condolences to the family and loved ones of Laken Hope Riley,” a White House official said in a statement to DailyMail.com.
In particular, the statement omitted any mention, by name, of illegal Venezuelan immigrant José Antonio Ibarra, who was arrested for her murder on Friday and is now being held in the Clarke County Jail.
The 26-year-old crossed into El Paso, Texas, in September 2022, but was released from a detention center due to lack of space.
‘People should be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law if they are found guilty. “Since this is an active case, we would have to refer it to state authorities and ICE,” the White House official said.
Laken Riley, a nursing student, was killed while jogging on the University of Georgia campus
The statement came the same day the White House announced that President Joe Biden would make his second visit to the border as president.
He will be in Brownsville, Texas, the same day that Donald Trump will be in Eagle Pass, Texas, to visit the southern border there.
Men are not expected to cross paths.
Trump has criticized Riley’s murder and is expected to discuss her in his remarks Thursday.
Riley, a nursing student, was found dead by police Thursday after she did not return from her morning run. University of Georgia police found her near where she had been running on the campus intramural fields with “visible injuries.”
‘Corrupt Joe Biden’s border INVASION is destroying our country and killing our citizens! The horrific murder of 22-year-old Laken Riley at the University of Georgia should NEVER have happened! “The monster who took his own life entered our country illegally in 2022…and then was released AGAIN by radical Democrats in New York after hurting a CHILD!!,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Monday.
‘When I am your president, we will immediately seal the border, stop the invasion, and on day one, begin the largest deportation operation of illegal CRIMINALS in US history! May God bless Laken Riley and his family!!! Our prayers are with you!’
Jose Ibarra, 26, was arrested on charges including murder and kidnapping in the death of nursing student Laken Hope Riley, 22, in Athens, Georgia.
Riley was killed by “blunt trauma,” police confirmed.
Ibarra has been charged with malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault, aggravated battery, false imprisonment, kidnapping, hindering a 911 call, concealing the death of another person and failure to appear for a fingerprint charge.
Their illegal status led Georgia Governor Brian Kemp to publicly blame the Biden administration for its immigration policies.
Ibarra was arrested in 2022 after illegally entering the United States and was “paroled and released for further processing,” according to an ICE statement.
He was also arrested last September by New York City police and charged with “acting in a manner to injure a child under 17 and a driver’s license violation,” but police released him “before a detainer could be issued,” ICE said.
Police said they did not know the victim and that the crime was a “random and solitary act.”
UGA Police Chief Jeffrey Clark told reporters at a news conference Thursday that officers searched Ibarra’s Athens apartment and evidence shows he acted alone.
‘He didn’t know her at all. I think this is a crime of opportunity where he saw an individual and bad things happened,” Clark said.
‘The evidence is solid. It is supported by key community input, physical evidence and expert police work. It is important to note that we have video images from the security camera network on our campus.’
President Joe Biden will visit the border on Thursday
Trump said in a Truth Social post on Monday that if he were president again, he would “begin the largest deportation operation of illegal criminals in American history.”
Since Biden took office in 2021, more than 7.2 million migrants have He entered the United States through the southern border.
That’s more people than the population of 36 states. Arizona, for example, had 7.1 million residents according to the 2020 census.
Trump has promised the “largest deportation” of illegal immigrants in US history if he is president again in 2024.