Americans had never heard of José Antonio Ibarra until a week ago. Ibarra is the suspect charged with brutally killing 22-year-old Laken Riley, a nursing student who was on her morning run in the woods of the University of Georgia campus.
The brutality, as described by the police and prosecutors in court papers, was extreme. Ibarra allegedly used an object repeatedly to beat and probably rape Riley, "disfiguring her skull." He was charged with malice murder, felony murder, aggravated battery, aggravated assault, false imprisonment, kidnapping, hindering a 911 call, and concealing the death of another.
Another illegality went unmentioned. Ibarra was an illegal alien who crossed the southern border in 2022 and, because of President Biden's famous "catch and release" program, was let go to roam free in America. Georgia prosecutors couldn't cite Ibarra's illegal presence in the country as a crime. According to federal law, only the federal government, due to its supremacy clause, is responsible for protecting the country’s borders - although it is plaintively clear that the federal government is doing a terrible job.
After being released at the border, Ibarra moved to New York City, where he continued to be a threat to society. Police arrested and charged him "with acting in a manner to injure a child less than 17 and a motor vehicle license violation." Unbelievably, Ibarra was released again.
Ibarra moved to Athens, GA, where he was arrested for stealing nearly $200 worth of goods from an Athens Walmart. His co-conspirator was his brother, Diego Ibarra, who, remarkably, was working in the University of Georgia kitchens using a fake Green Card. Why the University did not use E-Verify, a federal legal requirement to validate that employees without documentation are not hired, is a mystery. The brother has not been charged with the Riley murder, but the larger point stands: America's illegal immigration is creating havoc in cities and neighborhoods around the country, and President Biden alone is to blame.
Recall that Biden ran his 2020 campaign promising to reverse every Trump action regarding the border - to create a "more humane" system.
In March 2021, about six weeks after Biden took office, the administration's effort to reverse Trump-era protocols was already underway. At a White House briefing room, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said, "The prior administration dismantled our nation's immigration system in its entirety." Mayorkas was recently impeached in the House for failing his duties but is expected to be acquitted in the Senate, should Chuck Schumer even bring up the impeachment for a trial.
The effect of the dismantling has been extraordinarily damaging to American communities. The lack of vetting at the border has led to illegal immigrants executing people in America in criminal gang style, the kind we see depicted in Hollywood movies like Sicario: Day of the Soldado. At a House Immigration Subcommittee hearing in May 2023, Rodney Scott, formerly the Chief of the US Border Patrol, testified under oath that "drug trafficking now produces an average of 200 fentanyl deaths in the United States every day, the equivalent of a passenger jet crashing every day."
José Antonio Ibarra is the creation of Biden administration policies. We have granted access to more than 7 million illegals without any vetting and released them into the far corners of the country. Sanctuary city policies are so liberal that even when illegals are charged with crimes, they are let go. (New York City and Athens are both proud sanctuary cities.)
We are reminded of the 1988 campaign when Lee Atwater, then a GOP consultant, created the famous Willie Horton ad, which spelled the end of Michael Dukakis's candidacy in the general election. The former Massachusetts governor was considered weak on crime, having opposed the death penalty. Dukakis had signed into law a furlough program that let incarcerated prisoners out each weekend to visit family. Horton, a Black man, had already been in prison for killing a boy, but during one of his ten weekend getaways, he kidnapped a young couple and raped the woman. In the drumbeat moment of the 30-second ad, the narrator says: "Dukakis not only opposes the death penalty, he allowed first-degree murderers to have weekend passes from prison. Weekend prison passes, Dukakis on crime."
Liberals are quick to point out that the Horton ad was racist because it sought to create a stereotype that Blacks are more involved with crime. The Left is providing the same defense for Ibarra. Liberal lawyer Raul A. Reyes said in an opinion piece on CNN:
Riley's alleged killer is not representative of immigrants, nor do we even know yet if he is guilty. Any narrative that portrays undocumented immigrants generally as violent criminals is harmful and inaccurate. While he faces felony murder, false imprisonment, and other charges, he is still entitled to the presumption of innocence. This is the cornerstone of our criminal justice system. Under our Constitution, Ibarra is entitled to due process as well, like any other person on US soil.
According to the views of the Left, Ibarra is entitled to the presumption of innocence until he has his day in court. But former President Trump should be removed from the ballots in Colorado, Maine, and now Illinois because he "committed insurrection." Never mind that Trump has never been charged in any court that he did commit insurrection, nor has he been found guilty of the crime.
Welcome to Biden's America, where illegal aliens are afforded protections not available to the country's citizens.
