At a news conference about public safety after the murder of a university student, Athens Mayor Kelly Girtz faced angry protests from residents accusing him of having “blood on his hands” for the crime.
Protesters interrupted Girtz, demanding he resign for Athens’ sanctuary city policies.
“You’re a liar,” yelled a protester.
“You’re the one who is guilty and got blood on your hands for this murder, sir!” the man continued.
While Girtz rejected the sanctuary label, police found multiple illegal immigrants in the apartment of the suspected killer, Jose Antonio Ibarra, a Venezuelan national.
Girtz said, “There’s been no legislation from this government that’s created sanctuary city status.”
“We are deeply sorry for this tragedy. Responsibility for this crime rests solely upon the perpetrator,” insisted the mayor.
Girtz said to the crowd, “Trauma affects all of us.”
He continued, “And I understand in the wake of a great tragedy like this, we are all deeply hurt and everybody expresses their hurt differently.”
Ibarra’s brother also provided fake documents to police. Girtz defended Athens’ welcoming resolution for immigrants and swiped at former President Trump, angering protesters further.
“Baton Rouge has twice the crime rate,” said the mayor.
He added, “In a place like Auburn or College Station, it’s about 1.5 times less.”
Girtz said, “While 2019 was not that long ago, you might remember the dynamic we were living in, in the late teens in this country where you had the president of the United States speaking in the most vile terms about people who were foreign born.”
As outrage grew over the student’s killing allegedly by an illegal immigrant who had previous arrests, residents accused Girtz of failing to ensure public safety through lax immigration enforcement.
