Editor’s Note: This column was coauthored by Charles “Cully” Stimson, Senior Legal Fellow and Deputy Director at the Meese Center.

Laken Hope Riley, a lovely young lady in the prime of her college life, was brutally murdered in broad daylight while she was out jogging on the University of Georgia campus, allegedly by an illegal alien named Jose Antonio Ibarra. This crime was as foreseeable as it was preventable.  

Ibarra has been charged with the slaying of the Augusta University nursing student. But he never would have been able to carry out such a vicious crime if it weren’t for the reckless sanctuary policy of the city of New York and the deliberate, intentional disregard of our immigration laws by the Biden administration.

Ibarra is an illegal alien from Venezuela who should never have been in this country to start with, much less on the streets of Athens, Georgia. He was stopped by the U.S. Border Patrol in 2022 when he crossed into Texas near El Paso. But because of the Biden administration’s unlawful mass parole of illegal aliens and its callous “catch and release” policy, this criminal was allowed to roam freely in communities from Texas to New York and finally to the campus of the University of Georgia.

What should infuriate all of us, and particular the grieving family of Laken Riley, is that the administration knows that Venezuela has been intentionally emptying its prisons of violent criminals, including murderers and rapists, so they can mix with the illegal aliens crossing our southern border. This according to a security intelligence report from the Department of Homeland Security sent to the Border Patrol that was leaked to Breitbart. The result in Venezuela is that violent deaths there have fallen to a 22-year low as their criminals have found a new place to commit their crimes — the United States.

Despite this, the Biden administration has continued its policy of an open border by releasing illegal aliens they only briefly and temporarily detain, including Venezuelans, into the interior of the United States. This is their policy, even though DHS has no ability to identify which of these Venezuelans (or other aliens) are criminals with violent pasts.

Due to Biden’s open-door policy, Ibarra was able to move from Texas to New York City after he was “paroled” by DHS. There, he was arrested in September 2023 by the NYPD for “acting in a manner to injure a child” and for a “motor vehicle violation.” Was he detained as an illegal alien who committed a felony and can be deported from the country by DHS? No, that didn’t happen.

Instead, Ibarra was released by no-bail New York City, where the Soros-supported rogue prosecutor, Alvin Bragg, doesn’t believe in prosecuting misdemeanors and waters down most felonies. He released Ibarra before a detainer could even be issued by DHS which, these days, doesn’t have much interest in detaining and deporting criminal illegal aliens with only limited exceptions.

Under New York’s sanctuary policy, the city won’t even cooperate with DHS when it wants to detain a criminal. It won’t honor a detainer warrant issued by DHS because it insists on a warrant issued by a court, which is not practical given the huge numbers of illegal aliens in the country, and is not necessary under federal immigration law. This is just a requirement implemented by New York to avoid turning any illegal aliens over to the federal government, no matter how vicious their criminal history.

New York’s sanctuary policy has been denounced by the commissioner of police. And it is that sanctuary policy protecting criminals that let Ibarra go so he could travel to the University of Georgia to cruelly attack an innocent, defenseless young college student.

What is particularly monstrous about this is that Ibarra should have been detained at the border when he first crossed into the United States. He should have been detained in New York City when he was arrested there for committing a crime endangering a child. He should have been picked up by DHS in New York and deported so he would not have had the chance to even be in Athens, which apparently also has what amounts to a sanctuary policy in place.

It was the combination of reckless sanctuary policies by cities like New York, the no-bail, no-prosecution policies of rogue prosecutors like Bragg, and the irresponsible and heedless — but intentional — policy of Joe Biden and DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, that has opened our border and released dangerous aliens into communities all over America that led to the death of Laken Riley. Aliens whose backgrounds, identities, and criminal histories are unknown and unverifiable.

Jose Antonio Ibarra may be the criminal who has been charged with murdering Laken Hope Riley. But those in government whose policies allowed this foreseeable, horrific act to happen also have blood on their hands. Shame on them.

Republished from The Heritage Foundation.