The White House has broken its silence on the murder of 22-year-old Georgia nursing student Laken Riley, where the suspect is believed to be an undocumented migrant from Venezuela.
‘We would like to extend our deepest condolences to the family and loved ones of Laken Hope Riley,’ a White Houst official said in a statement to DailyMail.com.
The statement notably left out any mention, by name, of illegal Venezuelan immigrant Jose Antonio Ibarra, who was arrested for her murder on Friday and is now being held at the Clarke County Jail.
The 26-year-old crossed into El Paso, Texas in September 2022 but had been released from a detention center due to a lack of space.
‘People should be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law if they are found to be guilty. Given this is an active case, we would have to refer you to state law enforcement and ICE,’ the White House official said.
Nursing student Laken Riley was murdered while jogging on the University of Georgia campus
The statement came on the same day the White House announced President Joe Biden would make his second visit to the border as president.
He will be in Brownsville, Texas, on the same day Donald Trump will be in Eagle Pass, Texas, to visit the southern border there.
The men are not expected to cross paths.
Trump has blasted Riley’s murder and is expected to speak of her in his remarks on Thursday.
Riley, a nursing student, was found dead by police Thursday after she failed to return from her morning jog. University of Georgia police found her near where she’d been jogging through the campus intramural fields with ‘visible injuries.’
‘Crooked Joe Biden’s Border INVASION is destroying our country and killing our citizens! The horrible murder of 22-year-old Laken Riley at the University of Georgia should have NEVER happened! The monster who took her life illegally entered our Country in 2022…and then was released AGAIN by Radical Democrats in New York after injuring a CHILD!!,’ Trump wrote on Truth Social on Monday.
‘When I am your President, we will immediately Seal the Border, Stop the Invasion, and on Day One, we will begin the largest deportation operation of illegal CRIMINALS in American History! May God Bless Laken Riley and her family!!! Our prayers are with you!’
Jose Ibarra, 26, was arrested on charges that included murder and kidnapping in the death of 22-year-old nursing student Laken Hope Riley in Athens, Georgia
Riley was killed by ‘blunt force trauma,’ police confirmed.
Ibarra has been charged with malice murder, felony murder, aggravated battery, aggravated assault, false imprisonment, kidnapping, hindering a 911 call, concealing the death of another and failure to appear for a finger printable charge.
His illegal status prompted Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp to publicly fault the Biden administration for its immigration policies.
Ibarra was arrested in 2022 after entering the US illegally and was ‘paroled and released for further processing,’ according to a statement from ICE.
He was also arrested last September by New York City police and charged with ‘acting in a manner to injure a child less than 17 and a motor vehicle license violation,’ but police released him ‘before a detainer could be issued,’ ICE said.
Cops said that he did not know the victim and the crime was a ‘random, solo act.’
UGA Police Chief Jeffrey Clark told reporters at a press conference Thursday that officers have searched Ibarra’s apartment in Athens and evidence shows that he acted alone.
‘He did not know her at all. I think this is a crime of opportunity where he saw an individual and bad things happened,’ Clark said.
‘The evidence is robust. It is supported by key input by the community, physical evidence and expert police work. Importantly, we were assisted by video footage from our campus security cameras network.’
President Joe Biden will visit the border on Thursday
Trump said in a Truth Social post on Monday that if president again he would ‘begin the largest deportation operation of illegal criminals in American history’
Since Biden took office in 2021, over 7.2 million migrants have entered the U.S. through the southern border.
That’s more people than the population of 36 states. Arizona, for example, had 7.1 million residents according to the 2020 census.
Trump has promised the ‘ largest deportation’ in U.S. history of illegal immigrants if he becomes president again in 2024.