At a rally in Georgia, former President Trump brought attention to the case of Laken Riley, who was allegedly murdered by an illegal immigrant.
He criticized President Biden’s policies that released such individuals into the country.
“Sixteen days ago, Laken went out for a morning jog,” Trump said.
“She was in great shape. She wanted to keep herself that way. And she never came back, never came back. They knew something was wrong. An illegal alien criminal who Joe Biden intentionally released into our country has been [charged with murder], and … he’s released tens of thousand of people like this.”
“Tens of thousands. Because you know, they come from jails, and they come from mental institutions. He released them into our country.”
“Biden has implemented a formal policy that illegal aliens who intrude into the United States are granted immunity from deportation,” Trump said. “Thus, when this monster showed up at our border he was set free immediately under the program that crooked Joe created.”
Riley’s parents attended the rally and met with Trump.
Biden had mispronounced Riley’s first name as “Lincoln” in his State of the Union address when acknowledging the case under pressure.
“But how many of thousands of people are being killed by legals?” Biden said.
He later said in an interview that he regretted calling the suspect an “illegal” and should have used “undocumented” instead.
“I shouldn’t have used ‘illegal.’ It’s ‘undocumented,’” Biden said. “I’m not going to treat any, any, any of these people with disrespect. Look, they built the country. The reason our economy is growing. We have to control the border and more orderly flow, but I don’t share his [Trump’s] view at all.”
The 26-year-old suspect, Jose Antonio Ibarra, had entered the US illegally in September 2022 and was quickly released.
He had prior arrests in New York and Georgia but was not turned over to immigration officials due to sanctuary policies.
Ibarra is now charged with kidnapping and murdering Riley while she was jogging in Georgia in February 2023.