Jose Ibarra slipped over the dirty Rio Grande into America in the late summer of 2022.
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Mixed among the thousands seeking a better life in the U.S. were gangbangers, hardened killers and a small army of rapists.
He got a free hotel room and a travel voucher that eventually sent him to Atlanta, his desired destination. Before he arrived in the Peach State, the 26-year-old fell afoul of the NYPD in New York City with an assault charge.
Too many of Ibarra’s ilk got in and their vile handiwork has become a daily component of police blotters from Pittsburgh to Pasadena.
But Ibarra’s twisted criminality was among the most egregious, stomach-churning of them all. And the Democrat’s ideological whimsy on illegal immigration may have cost Kamala Harris the presidential election.
In Athens, Georgia on Wednesday, it took Judge Patrick Haggard a minuscule 19 minutes to convict Ibarra of murdering nursing student Laken Riley, 22, on Feb. 22, 2024.
And then he sentenced him to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Riley had gone for an early morning run on the University of Georgia campus when Ibarra struck in what detectives believe was a botched sex attack. Ibarra had gone “hunting for females” and would not be denied.
He was arrested the next day.
An interesting factoid, Ibarra is also a member of the notoriously violent Venezuelan prison gang, Tren de Aragua. As is his brother.
In just a few short years the gang — whose members wormed into the U.S. like Ibarra — has spread its wings to 16 states where TdA has carved out its place in sex trafficking, drugs, fraud, petty theft — and murder.
Ibarra’s legal eagle declared that the evidence linking him to the cruel and savage murder of Riley was “circumstantial.” It was not, there was a mountain stacked against the killer.
The last break Ibarra will likely ever get was when prosecutors took the death penalty off the table. Why they did so remains a mystery.
Riley’s senseless murder triggered an outpouring of rage and underscored illegal immigration as one of the top concerns with the electorate.
At a rally in October, now-President-elect Donald Trump brought up the murder, accusing Vice President Kamala Harris of allowing criminals into the U.S. through what he argued was an open border.
“Right here in Georgia, our nation was robbed of a brilliant 22-year-old nursing student, Laken Riley,” Trump told the audience. “Laken was a brilliant young student, top of her class, going to be a great nurse, nursing student, everyone admired her. She was killed viciously while out on a jog, she was assaulted, beaten and horrifically murdered by an illegal alien.”
On Wednesday outside the courtroom, the weather was cloudy and a pleasant 20C. Inside was a different matter.
There was sobbing and a flood of tears as Laken Riley’s family held hands in solidarity.
“Jose Ibarra took no pity on my scared, panicked and struggling child. There is no end to the pain, suffering or loss that we have experienced or will continue to endure,” her mother, Allyson Phillips, said.
“On that horrific day, my precious daughter was attacked, beaten and shown no mercy. She fought for her life, dignity and to save herself from being brutally raped. This sick, twisted and evil coward showed no regard for Laken’s life.”
Ibarra sat motionless and without expression. He remained silent.
The murder of Laken Riley underscored an out-of-control immigration system. Her death became emblematic of other outrages across the country.
And the Democrats paid a heavy price for their indifference.
@HunterTOSun