According to federal documents obtained by Sen. Josh Hawley, President Joe Biden’s Department of Homeland Security (DHS) approved a work permit for Jose Antonio Ibarra, the Venezuelan illegal immigrant who is accused of murdering Laken Riley on UGA’s campus, despite discovering that he had a criminal record. Sen. Hawley confronted DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas over that in a recent hearing.
As background, 22-year-old Laken Riley, a nursing student, was murdered while jogging on the University of Georgia campus in Athens, GA. Her body was found, bludgeoned to death, later on that day, February 22. Ibarra, an illegal immigrant living in Athens, a sanctuary city, was arrested the next day and charged with Laken’s murder.
According to Sen. Hawley, DHS granted a work permit for Ibarra despite knowing he had a criminal record. Speaking on that during a Senate budget hearing on Thursday, April 18, reading from the DHS file on Ibarra to show that the agency knew about Ibarra but released him anyway after catching him crossing the border, citing “detention capacity” as their reason.
Confronting DHS Secretary Mayorkas over that, Hawley thundered, “You and I both know [lack of detention capacity] is not a valid reason [for parole] under the statute.” Further, even if it was a valid reason under the statute, as Breitbart News notes, ICE data shows there were over 8,000 detention beds available when Ibarra was detained at the border.
After noting that Ibarra was released in violation of DHS’ statutory responsibilities, Sen. Hawley tore into Mayorkas for granting a work permit for Ibarra despite knowing about the crime he committed while in New York City, another sanctuary city where he was released instead of kept in jail.
Sen. Hawley, ripping into Mayorkas and DHS over that work permit, said, “This is your policies in action. A criminal is permitted into this country on grounds flatly not permitted, flatly contradictory to the statute. He commits a crime against a child, and then he gets a work permit … then, in February, he commits the heinous crime against Laken Riley.”
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During the hearing, Sen. Hawley also blasted Mayorkas for establishing policies that are “working for” his far-left political priorities but are failing for those like Laken who have suffered at the hands of illegal immigrants like Ibarra. He thundered, “Mr. Secretary, I know that you think your policies are a success. . . . Maybe they’re working for your political objectives . . . but they’re not working for Laken Riley or Travis Wolfe or the people of my state. . . . What you have done is a travesty, and, sir, it is long past time for you to go.”
He also accused Mayorkas of lying about Ibarra, saying, “You have lied repeatedly to Congress and to the American people about [Ibarra’s criminal history]. . . . I just want to know, why did you change your story so often . . . Well, hopefully [Ibarra] will get more of a trial than you got. Otherwise, there’ll be no justice for anyone at all.”
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video