The father of a 22-year-old nursing student allegedly killed by a migrant this past month has expressed ire over politicians using her death for political purposes.
Jason Riley, the father of 22-year-old Laken Riley, delivered the remarks on the Today show Monday – before declaring that the suspected killer, 26-year-old Jose Antonio Ibarra, would not have been here in the first place ‘if we had secure borders’.
The sitdown – aside from airing on national TV – comes as the Georgia woman’s death during a jog on February 22 continues to dominate headlines after the fact.
Earlier this month, Joe Biden uttered her name – albeit incorrectly – in what appeared to be an impromptu moment during his State of the Union speech. GOP frontrunner Donald Trump has met with the girl’s mother and stepfather, has and blamed her death on Biden’s policies at the border.
As a result, some have accused Republicans of using Riley’s death to advance their political agenda – a dynamic Jason Riley, on Monday, criticized.
Making it clear he does support the GOP frontrunner as a candidate, he said he would prefer politicians like him and Marjorie Taylor Greene would refrain from using his daughter’s death as a political tool.
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Jason Riley, the father of the late 22-year-old, made the remarks on the Today show Monday
Laken Riley, a 22-year-old Georgia nursing student was killed while out jogging on February 22
Her dad said that the suspected killer, 26-year-old Jose Antonio Ibarra, would not have been here in the first place ‘if we had secure borders’
‘I’d rather [my daughter’s death] not be such a political, how you say – it started a storm in our country,’ Jason said of his daughter’s death.
‘It’s incited a lot of people,’ he said, before asserting: ‘There’s people on both sides that have lashed out at our families.’
He went on to add how he ‘[wished he] would have been there to protect her’ that fateful day in Augusta – during which the Augusta University student embarked on a jog before turning up dead – and that ‘[he wished] it would have been [him].’
Pivoting to the political claims, he proclaimed: ‘I think [her death] is being used politically to get those votes.’
‘Laken has been a rallying cry for secure borders and for the illegal immigration policies of this current administration,’ the mourning dad continued, before disclaiming: ‘but there’s many women we don’t get to hear about.’
The remarks referred to multiple politicians’ use of his daughters names at campaign rallies and speeches in recent weeks, in what’s poised to be a hotly contested election year.
On the day of Biden’s befuddled State of the Union address, a bill in honor of Laken – eponymously named the Laken Riley Act – was passed the GOP-led House.
If signed, it would require US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to take undocumented immigrants into custody for theft-related offenses, after the suspect and his brother were arrested and released months before the murder after being found in possession of stolen merchandise from a local Walmart.
The declaration referred to politicians’ use of his daughters names at campaign rallies and speeches – as well as in an eponymous immigration bill – in what’s sure to be a hotly contested election year
Donld Trump this month blamed Augusta University’s nursing college student’s death on Biden’s policies at the border
He went on to meet with Jason Reilly’s wife and her second husband backstage at the Rome, Georgia rally on March 9, as well as the roommate who reported her missing when she left for a jog last month and never came back
In the days since, ‘Say her name’ has surfaced as the mostly Republican procession’s war cry, with Georgia’s most divisive firebrand in Marjorie Taylor Greene quick to take part
![Riley's dad, in turn, proclaimed: 'I think [her death] is being used politically to get those votes'](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/03/18/14/82598679-13210181-image-m-37_1710773792765.jpg)
Riley’s dad, in turn, proclaimed: ‘I think [her death] is being used politically to get those votes’
The suspect has since been arrested and charged with felony murder, false imprisonment, and kidnapping, nearly two years after illegally entering the US from Venezuela, where his brother is said to be a member of the gang Tren de Aragua.
Trump, in turn, told attendees at an event Rome, Georgia, that his successor ‘intentionally released’ Ibarra into the country with his relatively lax policies at the border, claiming Riley would still be alive if he were president.
In the days since, ‘Say her name’ has surfaced as the mostly Republican procession’s war cry, with Georgia firebrand Taylor Greene quick to take part.
Georgia is a swing state massively important to clinch the presidential election victory in November. Trump won the southern state in 2016 with 50.4 percent of the vote, but it flipped blue in 2020 with Biden beating him by just 0.3 percent.
One of the election fraud lawsuits against Trump was brought in Georgia by liberal Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis.
The former president claims this is a sham lawsuit and a politically motivated case against him.
More to follow…