Republicans say Georgia student’s killing shows Biden’s migration policies have failed

ATHENS, Ga. (AP) — Students at two Georgia colleges grappled Monday with the killing of a nursing student killed in a violent act that Republicans including former President Donald Trump and Gov. Brian Kemp blamed on the immigration policies of President Joe Biden.

The killing of 22-year-old Laken Riley revived a theme — migrants committing violent crimes — that is animating the 2024 elections as Trump seeks a return to the White House. Trump famously launched his 2016 presidential bid with these words about Mexicans: “They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.”

The focus now is on migrants who have arrived in the country during the Biden administration, with Republicans blaming Biden for migrant flows even as Democrats attack Republicans for sinking proposed legislation that could have toughened border enforcement. That conflict is only likely to escalate this week with Biden and Trump planning dueling trips to the U.S.-Mexico border in Texas on Thursday.

The man charged with murder in Riley’s beating death, Jose Ibarra, is a Venezuelan citizen who immigration authorities say unlawfully crossed into the U.S. in September 2022.

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