Laken Riley is dead because America failed to protect her.
For every crime her suspected killer committed, he was let free.
Every chance to prevent the tragedy that unfolded was squandered.
Police say the killing of the Augusta University College nursing student was a “crime of opportunity,” but it was an opportunity provided again and again by a callous Biden administration and a justice system gone mad.
The suspect, Jose Antonio Ibarra, illegally crossed the border into El Paso in September of last year. Yes, illegally.
Despite what activists might claim, he was not an “asylum seeker.” That’s a designation for someone who is fleeing religious or political persecution.
Ibarra, along with his wife and her 5-year-old child, was looking for better economic opportunities than they could find in Venezuela.
Which, fine: That’s what immigrants have sought in America for hundreds of years.
But they must follow the rules. If Ibarra had legitimately wanted asylum, he was legally obliged to apply for it in any safe haven in between Venezuela and here.
If he wanted to move here for work, he could have applied for a visa, as so many around the world do.
Instead, President Biden has allowed millions to game the system.
They cross the border, then, coached by charity groups, make bogus claims of asylum.
Ibarra’s wife admits that’s why they got married, “so we could join our asylum cases,” she told The Post, and look more sympathetic.
It will be years until their case is heard in court, and by that point even if they’re rejected no one will deport them.
Ibarra and his family were bused to New York, where more laws were broken.
They received free food and shelter, courtesy of taxpayers, and Ibarra delivered for DoorDash and UberEats, his wife says.
The Post has done stories before about how many migrants are working for the services, which swear up and down they are following labor laws. It’s a lie.
A huge illegal economy has sprung up in New York City, undermining the minimum wage and opportunities for legal workers.
One day, Ibarra was arrested for carrying the child without a helmet or protection on his scooter — but rather than triggering any sort of review in immigration court, he was let go.
When Ibarra and his wife split up, he headed to Georgia to be with his brother, who was also working illegally.
There, Ibarra saw Laken Riley, 22, out jogging and, according to police, killed her.
Left-wing politicians will bristle that this case leads to “anti-migrant” sentiments: Most “asylum seekers” are just looking for a better life, they claim, and aren’t the Venezuelan gangs roaming Times Square, shoplifting with impunity or getting into street fights.
That’s not the point.
Joe Biden has erased our southern border, taking away any mechanism for the United States to decide who can come in and when.
There is no vetting, no rules and no limit.
When so many laws are ignored, how can anyone be surprised when it leads to even more lawlessness? The argument is not that all migrants are bad because of one murder; it’s that one murder illustrates how corrupt and broken the system has become.
This story originally appeared on NYPost
