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OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author’s opinion.
House Speaker Mike Johnson laid into Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas over his refusal to admit that the illegal immigrant suspected of brutally killing University of Georgia nursing student Laken Riley shouldn’t have been in the country in the first place.
Mayokas acknowledged the 22-year-old’s murder during an interview Sunday with CBS News, but his refusal to admit any responsibility or that the suspect, Jose Antonio Ibarra, should have been deported or jailed set the Louisiana Republican off, pointing out on the X platform that had he done his job, Riley would “still be alive today.”
“When asked about the tragic murder of Laken Riley by an illegal immigrant, Secretary Mayorkas visibly checked his talking points on how to deflect blame. Her killer should NOT have been allowed to enter the country and if the Administration had stopped him and turned him around as they should have, Laken Riley would be alive today,” Johnson wrote.
When asked about the tragic murder of Laken Riley by an illegal immigrant, Secretary Mayorkas visibly checked his talking points on how to deflect blame.
Her killer should NOT have been allowed to enter the country and if the Administration had stopped him and turned him around… pic.twitter.com/C0WjUaqIWb
— Speaker Mike Johnson (@SpeakerJohnson) March 4, 2024
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During the interview, “Face the Nation” host Margaret Brennan asked Mayorkas about “migrant crime” in general, but then honed in on the Laken murder.
“(Ibarra) had been detained by Border Patrol upon crossing, released with temporary permission to stay in the country,” she reminded him, adding that he “then went on allegedly to commit crimes twice, once in New York for driving a scooter without a license, and once in connection with a shoplifting case in Georgia.”
“Did those states and their law enforcement communicate to the federal government that this had happened?” she asked. “Should this man have been deported?”
Mayorkas offered what sounded to many like talking point sympathies to Riley’s family, calling her murder a “tragedy” before finishing his response.
“One individual is responsible for the murder,” he said, “and that is the murderer.”
The Post Millennial added:
The DHS Sec then refused to admit that the federal government was at least in part to blame for the fact that Ibarra was allowed to not only enter the country illegally, but remain even after committing the aforementioned crimes. He instead suggested the fault lies with sanctuary states and cities for not doing enough to communicate with immigration officials the danger Ibarra posed to the community.
Ibarra was arrested shortly after the Augusta University nursing student’s body was discovered near a lake on February 22. He has been charged with felonies of malice murder, murder, kidnapping, false imprisonment, aggravated assault, aggravated battery and concealing the death of another, as well as a misdemeanor charge of physically hindering a 911 call.
President Joe Biden got into some hot water again last week with many Americans over a term he used to describe the millions of people who have been allowed to stay in the U.S. after illegally crossing the border under his watch.
During Biden’s visit to a quiet part of the U.S.-Mexico border on Thursday, the White House released a statement highlighting elements of the unpassable border bill that was abandoned by Republicans after learning that it would still allow up to 5,000 people per day into the country.
The statement said: “The bill also includes $1.4 billion for cities and states who are providing critical services to newcomers, and would expedite work permits for people who are in the country and qualify.”
Critics took issue with the use of the word “newcomers.”
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