Republican Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp’s office blasted apparent revelations that Laken Riley’s killer was flown into the state before her murder, and confirmed they are working to get more answers.
The roommate of Jose Ibarra testified in court that she and Ibarra arrived in Georgia by way of a humanitarian flight from New York City in 2023. Ibarra on Wednesday was ultimately found guilty of murdering Riley, a Georgia nursing student at the time, and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
The fact that an illegal migrant and killer was likely flown into the community via a taxpayer-funded flight is not sitting well with Georgia officials.
“The recent revelation of how Laken Riley’s alleged killer made it to Georgia is outrageous,” Kemp spokesperson Garrison Douglas stated to the Daily Caller News Foundation.
“While the Biden Administration continues to ignore our request for accurate and detailed information on illegal border crossings and relocations efforts, Governor Kemp has positioned Georgia to do what it can to address the crisis at the border by taking decisive action like deploying our National Guardsmen to the U.S. southern border and signing legislation that strengthened Georgia’s reporting requirements for illegal immigrants arrested for crimes and ban on sanctuary cities,” Douglas continued.
The reaction from the governor’s office came shortly before Athens-Clarke County Superior Court Judge Patrick Haggard found Ibarra guilty of murdering Riley, a 22-year-old nursing student at the time of her death. The Venezuelan national was found responsible for malice murder, felony murder, kidnapping with bodily injury, aggravated assault with intent to rape, aggravated battery, obstructing or hindering a 9-1-1 call, tampering with evidence and being a peeping tom.
Riley was abducted and brutally murdered while she was jogging on trails near the University of Georgia campus on Feb. 22. She passed away from blunt force trauma to the head, investigators determined. Law enforcement officials investigating the killing found Ibarra’s DNA under Riley’s fingernails, evidence linking him to the crime and strongly indicating that Riley put up a fight as he tried to rape her and ultimately killed her.
Ibarra is a Venezuelan national who illegally crossed into the United States in September 2022 and was released on parole — making him one of countless Venezuelan nationals who have used the U.S. asylum system to their advantage to enter the country en masse. While Ibarra’s immigration status has been public knowledge since the murder, it had not been entirely clear to the public how he ultimately ended up in Georgia.
After being released into the interior country by immigration officials, the Venezuelan national arrived in New York City. It was there where he already began to have run-ins with local law enforcement, having been arrested in August 2023 for allegedly acting in a manner to injure a child less than 17 years old, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Not long after this arrest, Ibarra was provided transportation to Georgia, according to Rosbeli Elisber Flores-Bello, a woman he met in Queens and his eventual roommate. She testified Monday that she and Ibarra both arrived at the Roosevelt Hotel in New York City in September 2023 and successfully scored a humanitarian flight down south.
“In Manhattan, we requested a humanitarian flight to come here to Atlanta,” Flores-Bello stated in the Athen-Clarke County courtroom. When asked how they were able to obtain the plane tickets, she said they were provided by New York City officials.
New York City has been no stranger to the ongoing migrant crisis that began under the Biden-Harris administration. Hundreds of thousands of asylum seekers have landed in the Big Apple since 2022 and the city has spent billions of taxpayer dollars trying to manage the crisis, according to city officials.
The Roosevelt Hotel has essentially served as a hub for many of the NYC-bound migrants, according to Fox 5. The hotel was transformed into a migrant center in May 2023 and has provided information to thousands of the asylum seekers who pass through.
The Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs (MOIA) specifically directs migrants seeking information and help to go to Roosevelt Hotel.
New York City officials have so far not confirmed if taxpayer money was used to pay for Ibarra and his roommate to fly to Georgia. No spokesperson for MOIA responded to a request for comment from the DCNF, and MOIA commissioner Manuel Castro also did not respond to a request for comment.
Georgia leaders have also placed the blame for Riley’s murder squarely on the Biden-Harris administration for its purported failure to secure the U.S.-Mexico border.
“The tragic loss of Laken Riley at the hands of a criminal illegal immigrant is another unfortunate example of the Biden/Harris Administration’s failure to prioritize the safety and wellbeing of citizens across the country,” Speaker of the Georgia House Jon Burns stated to the DCNF.
“The Georgia House took swift action to protect our citizens and crack down on illegal immigration with the passage of HB 1105. While we will continue to support safe, legal immigration in our country, we will never waver in our fight against illegal immigration to keep Georgia families and communities safe,” Burns continued.
Unlike New York City — which has strict sanctuary laws that have been blamed for protecting criminal illegal migrants — Georgia enacted laws that effectively prohibit sanctuary city policy. The bill mentioned by Burns, HB 1105, mandates local law enforcement in Georgia to cooperate with ICE.
The illegal immigration crisis that began shortly after President Joe Biden assumed office has been unprecedented.
The total number of illegal border crossings in fiscal year 2024 were the second worst in U.S. history — only surpassed by fiscal year 2023, according to data tracked by Customs and Border Protection. There were roughly 8.5 million migrant encounters along the U.S.-Mexico border during the four fiscal years of the Biden-Harris administration.
The massive number of illegal migrants entering the country have included hardened criminals, such as the alleged murders of 12-year-old Jocelyn Nungaray and Rachel Morin.
Kemp, for his part, believes the tide will turn with the incoming Trump administration. The president-elect, the governor’s spokesperson said, will crackdown on border security once he resumes office.
“With the return of the Trump administration, the governor looks forward to a renewed state and federal partnership that will tackle the border crisis head on,” Douglas stated.
All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact [email protected].
