(Headline USA) The illegal immigrant accused of killing Georgia nursing student Laken Riley was flown down to Georgia by the Biden administration, according to a witness who testified in the court case this week.
The witness claimed Jose Ibarra was flown from Queens, New York to Atlanta in September 2023, less than six months before he allegedly killed Riley while she was jogging, according to The New York Times.
Ibarra was able to secure the flight after he and several other illegal immigrants, including the witness, Rosbeli Flores-Bello, requested transportation out of New York City.
They had been living in the Roosevelt Hotel in Manhattan, which was converted into a migrant shelter by city officials.
This request was granted thanks to a New York City program set up in 2023, with funding from the Biden administration, to transfer migrants out of the city.
“In Manhattan, we requested for a humanitarian flight to come here to Atlanta,” Flores-Bello testified, according to the New York Post.
Flores-Bello said she and Ibarra decided to move to Georgia because Ibarra’s brother, Diego, had told them there were more job opportunities down south.
When asked to confirm whether Ibarra benefited from the federally-funded flight program, a representative for New York City Mayor Eric Adams called Riley’s death a “gut-wrenching tragedy.”
“Our reticketing system is one tool in our very limited toolbox as a city that helps migrants take the next step out of our shelter system,” the spokesperson said. “Mayor Adams has been abundantly clear that we need to fix our broken immigration system.”
Ibarra is accused of smashing Riley’s head against a rock and strangling her after she resisted his sexual attack.
According to law enforcement officials, Riley fought for her life for nearly 18 minutes.
Ibarra’s trial is expected to end this week.
