Killing of Laken Riley is now front and center of US immigration debate and 2024 presidential race

ATLANTA (AP) — With an unscripted clash between President Joe Biden and a Georgia congresswoman at Thursday night’s State of the Union speech, the slaying of a Georgia nursing student was further cemented as a political rallying point in the 2024 presidential race.

Laken Hope Riley, 22, has become the face of immigration reform for many conservatives in the days since she was killed while jogging in a park on the University of Georgia campus on Feb. 22.

At the State of the Union address, Biden held up a pin with Riley’s name on it as U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene shouted from the gallery: “Say her name!”

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Immigration has emerged as a major campaign issue, dividing the nation and straining resources in New York, Chicago, Boston and other cities after migrants settle there and in communities across the country after crossing the nation’s southern border.

Republicans say some migrants with criminal backgrounds are not vetted and are improperly released into communities, putting U.S. citizens at risk. They have seized on the Georgia case to make those claims as the 2024 presidential election heats up.

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