Speaking before the Georgia Senate on Wednesday, March 20, Jason Riley, the heartbroken father of murdered Augusta University nursing student Laken Riley, demanded that the Georgia Governor and legislature take action to protect Georgians from the illegal immigration crisis before more fall victim to it like his daughter Laken did.
As background, Laken Riley, 22, was allegedly killed by Jose Antonio Ibarra, a 26-year-old Venezuelan illegal immigrant. Ibaraa, who crossed the US-Mexico border in 2022, was arrested at the border and released, then arrested and released again in New York City, a sanctuary city. He later made his way to Athens, Georgia, where Laken was murdered while jogging on the UGA campus.
Speaking before the Georgia state Senate, Mr. Riley declared, “I stand before you, a heartbroken man.” He continued, emphasizing just how devastating and heart-rending the murder of his daughter was, Mr. Riley said, “Part of my purpose has been taken. God gave me a beautiful daughter to father, protect, provide for and nurture.”
Continuing, Mr. Riley turned from focusing on his own broken heart and family’s tragedy to why Laken was killed, firmly blaming illegal immigration for Ibarra’s presence and thus opportunity to kill Laken. He said, “A man with an evil heart stole her life. He was in this country and in this state illegally. My vision for every senator in this chamber is that you protect citizens from this illegal invasion.”
Mr. Riley then pleaded with the state’s lawmakers to do something about the illegal immigration crisis before it’s too late, though it’s already too late for his family. Particularly, he encouraged the legislators and governor to wake up to the situation and “recognize” that “over a million illegal aliens are in this state and making families nervous.”
Further, he pointed to Athens’ sanctuary city status and blamed it, in part, for Laken’s death, saying, “Please recognize Athens-Clarke as a sanctuary city, and this policy and the lack of action, led to the murder of my daughter. There are a few of you in this chamber that are standing up and working on that solution to protect us. For that, my family is thankful.”
Then, calling on Governor Kemp to take action, he said, “Governor Kemp, please declare an invasion to detain and deport criminal illegals so we can prevent future families from those tragedies. Hundreds of women and children each month… are being smuggled, coerced, and trafficked in our state. They are victims, just like Laken. I thank you for honoring Laken in this way, and I humbly ask you to do more to protect us. She and my family mean the world to me.”
He added, “I’d like to also recognize Senator Colton Moore and Michael Gargiulo, who are great men fighting for freedom and security in our state. They were there for our family throughout this process. I thank them and each of you for this opportunity to hear from our family and to hear our cry for help so we can protect others as Laken would have wanted. God be with our state and each of you. Thank you.”
Watch Mr. Riley here:
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video
"*" indicates required fields