Parents of Laken Riley say no to State of the Union invitation

The parents of Laken Riley, the Georgia college student allegedly killed by an illegal immigrant, declined an invitation from Rep. Mike Collins to attend President Biden’s State of the Union speech Thursday.

They said they were staying home and mourning their daughter, said Mr. Collins, Georgia Republican.

“The seat reserved for my guest will remain vacant to honor Laken and all American victims of illegal alien crime,” he wrote on X. 

“As Joe Biden attempts to paint a rosy picture of the crime-ridden country he has created, he will look up at an empty seat that memorializes those we’ve lost because of his open border policies,” he said.

Riley, 22, was a nursing student at Augusta University. She was killed while jogging on the University of Georgia’s campus. Jose Antonio Ibarra, 26, was charged in connection to her murder. Police have not revealed how Riley was killed but that her death was caused by blunt force trauma.

The murder of Riley has outraged critics of Mr. Biden’s border policies and Democratic-run states and cities with “sanctuary” policies for illegal immigrants.

They blame those policies for making her killing possible.

Homeland Security said Mr. Ibarra, a Venezuelan, sneaked into the U.S. in 2022 and was caught and released under the Biden administration’s expansive use of parole powers.

He was arrested in New York last year and charged with acting in a manner to injure a child less than 17 and a motor vehicle license violation. But he was released before U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement could place a detainer, or request that he be turned over for deportation purposes.

He was also arrested in Athens, Georgia, in October for shoplifting but was released without ICE taking him into custody, allowing him to be out on the streets when Riley was slain.

Mr. Collins introduced the Laken Riley Act this week to require ICE to detain illegal immigrants who have been charged with local theft or burglary. It would also let individual states act against the federal government “if an immigration-related action harms the state or its citizens.”

The House is scheduled to vote on the bill on Thursday.

“The senseless murder of Laken Riley by Jose Ibarra, who had no business being in this country, was another wakeup call as Americans experience an illegal alien crime wave because of Joe Biden’s open border and local sanctuary city policies,” Mr. Collins told Fox News Digital.

“I wish we could bring Laken back, but we must now turn our focus to ensuring this doesn’t happen to another American,” he said. “That’s why I introduced the Laken Riley Act.”