As her alleged killer goes on trial, how Laken Riley’s brutal murder became a bitterly divisive political issue

Republicans seized on the fact that an immigrant who entered the US illegally is the suspect in the murder of the Georgia nursing student

The man accused of murdering Laken Riley has begun in Georgia, with the jury hearing that the nursing student “fought for her life, fought for her dignity.”

Her murder quickly became a deeply divisive political issue for both major parties.

Jose Ibarra, an immigrant from Venezuela who entered the United States illegally at El Paso in September 2022, is charged with murder and other crimes for the February slaying of 22-year-old Laken Riley, whose body was found on the University of Georgia Campus.

Riley’s murder became a rallying cry for Republicans, an avoidable tragedy that they say encompasses the Biden administration’s handling of the U.S-Mexico border amid a record surge of immigrants entering the country.

Immigration was already a major issue in the presidential campaign, and Republicans seized on Riley’s killing, with now-president-elect Donald Trump blaming Democratic President Joe Biden’s border policies for her death.

Republicans used Ibarra’s status to exemplify the ongoing issue at the southern border and touted Riley’s brutal killing as a way to bolster their anti-migrant agenda.

Laken Riley was killed while out for a run on campus (Supplied)

In the wake of the attack, Trump wrote on Truth Social, “Crooked Joe Biden’s Border INVASION is destroying our country and killing our citizens!”

He called Ibarra a “monster” who “illegally entered our Country in 2022…and then was released AGAIN by Radical Democrats in New York after injuring a CHILD!!”

At the time, Trump said if elected president, he promised to “Immediately Seal the Border, Stop the Invasion, and on Day One, we will begin the largest deportation operation of illegal CRIMINALS in American History!”

Riley was out for a run when she was attacked and killed. She died of blunt force trauma to the head after her killer allegedly used an object to strike her, “disfiguring her skull,” before “dragging” her to a “secluded area”.

Federal immigration officials said shortly after his arrest that Ibarra illegally entered the US in 2022 and was allowed to stay to pursue his immigration case.

ICE wrote in a statement that Ibarra had been arrested by the New York Police Department on September 14, 2023 and “charged with acting in a manner to injure a child less than 17 and a motor vehicle license violation.”

Immigration was already a major issue in the presidential campaign earlier this year when Jose Ibarra was arrested for Laken Riley’s murder (Clarke County Sheriff's Office)

The NYPD then released Ibarra “before a detainer could be issued,” the agency added. However, a spokesperson for the NYPD told The Independent at the time that there was no arrest on file. ICE lodged a detainer on Ibarra following his arrest.

Ibarra’s brother Diego Ibarra was initially arrested on suspicion of killing Riley as he matched the suspect’s description. Diego Ibarra was later charged with possession of a fake green card, according to 13WMAZ.

Weeks after the attack, Georgia firebrand Marjorie Taylor Greene wore a “Say Her Name” t-shirt to Biden’s State of the Union address in March. Pins featuring Riley’s name and face were also emblazoned across her bright red blazer, which matched her “Make America Great Again” cap.

The MAGA Republican handed the pins out to anyone she could – including to the president himself – and made sure to get herself noticed as she heckled throughout his speech, calling on him to do as her shirt said: “Say her name!”

It was an outfit choice that took the tragic murder of the Georgia student and politicized it to push Greene’s brand of politics.

President Joe Biden holds up a Laken Riley button as he delivers the State of the Union address (AP)

After being interrupted by Greene shouting Riley’s name during his speech, Biden made this very point. He did say Laken Riley’s name, and even paused to hold up a pin with her name printed across it.

“Laken Riley, an innocent young woman who was killed by an illegal,” Biden said, sending the crowd into a shocked silence. “But how many thousands of people, being killed by legals?”

The president also claimed that Republicans – beholden to Trump – are the reason for the stalled bipartisan border deal.

Republicans shied away from a border compromise a month earlier, at the urging of Trump, who – Democrats argued – did not want Biden to have a victory ahead of the election.

“I believe that given the opportunity for a majority in the House and Senate would endorse the bill ... But unfortunately, politics [has] derailed this bill so far. I’m told my predecessor called members of Congress in the Senate to demand they block the bill,” Mr Biden said of Mr Trump, whose name he would not say.

Marjorie Taylor Greene at the State of the Union 2024 (AP)

“I would respectfully suggest to my Republican friends ... to the American people – get this bill done. We need to act now,” he added.

The same month, Riley’s father criticized the politicization of his daughter’s death in an interview with NBC News.

“I feel like she’s being used somewhat politically ... It makes me angry,” Jason Riley told NBC News. “She was much better than that. She should be raised up for the person that she is.”

Ibarra is now on trial for Riley’s murder. He waived his right to a jury trial, meaning his case is being heard and decided by Athens-Clarke County Superior Court Judge H. Patrick Haggard.

Ibarra’s trial finally got underway in a courtroom in Georgia on the morning of Friday November 15, where Athens-Clarke County Superior Court Judge H. Patrick Haggard will now decide his fate after the suspect waived his right to a jury trial in the 11th hour.

Ibarra in court. The jury heard that he had been ‘hunting for women’ – but that Riley had ‘fought for her life’ (AP)

In opening statements, special prosecutor Sheila Ross told the court that Ibarra had been “hunting” for women on the day of the murder but when he came across Riley.

But when the nursing student “refused to be a rape victim, he bashed her skull in with a rock repeatedly.”

“The evidence will show that Laken fought,” she said. “She fought for her life, she fought for her dignity. And in that fight she caused this defendant to leave forensic evidence behind.”

Defense attorney Dustin Kirby said in his opening that Riley’s death was a tragedy and called the evidence in the case graphic and disturbing.

But he said there is not sufficient evidence to prove that it was Ibarra and questioned how his fingerprints could be on the phone if he was supposedly wearing gloves.

“The evidence in this case is very good that Laken Riley was murdered,” Kirby said. “The evidence that Jose Ibarra killed Laken Riley is circumstantial.”

If convicted, Ibarra could face life in prison without the possibility of parole. Prosecutors have said they won’t pursue the death penalty.