(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has described the brutal murder of Georgia nursing student Laken Riley as “an absolute tragedy” but refrained from acknowledging that the alleged perpetrator, an illegal immigrant from Venezuela, should have been deported from the U.S. for previous offenses.
Mayorkas made these comments during a Sunday interview on CBS News’s Face the Nation, where host Margaret Brennan pressed the DHS chief on whether 26-year-old Jose Antonio Ibarra could have been handed over to ICE for prior alleged crimes before allegedly committing Riley’s murder.
“First and foremost an absolute tragedy and our hearts break for and our prayers are with the family,” Mayorkas said while reading off his notes. “As a prosecutor having prosecuted violent crime and other crimes for 12 years: one individual is responsible for the murder and that is the murderer.”
Mayorkas asserted that DHS works “very closely with” state and local officials to detain individuals threatening public safety. Intriguingly, Ibarra had been arrested in New York City for driving a scooter without a license and later for a shoplifting case in Georgia.
Despite these arrests, Ibarra was not handed over to immigration, prompting Brennan to question whether the so-called cooperation with local law enforcement may have fallen short.
“But are you saying there that the federal government had been informed about this individual and the alleged crimes he had committed in those states because he could have been deported if that was the case? Was there a breakdown in the system?” Brennan questioned.
Mayorkas responded that cooperation with cities varies, with Brennan pointing out that New York City did not pass the individual to immigration after his scooter violation arrest.
Mayorkas retorted: “We firmly believe that if a city is aware of an individual who poses a threat to public safety then we would request that they provide us with that information so that we can ensure that that individual is detained if the facts so warrant it.”
The CBS News host pressed Mayorkas on whether New York City, an infamous sanctuary for illegal aliens, did not coordinate with federal immigration authorities, to which Mayorkas replied: “Well, different cities have different levels of cooperation. We were not notified in this instance.”
Riley, a beloved 22-year-old nursing student at the University of Georgia, met her tragic end while jogging near campus when she encountered Ibarra. The two did not know each other, as law enforcement officials stated that the attack was random.
Ibarra had entered the country illegally in September 2022, with the Biden administration admitting him on parole. He proceeded to New York City, where he was arrested in September 2023 for driving a moped with a minor on board. Eventually, he made his way to Georgia, where he allegedly committed the brutal murder of Riley.
