‘Our nation was robbed:’ Former Pres. Trump mentions death of Laken Riley while at Cobb County rally

COBB COUNTY, Ga. — While speaking at a Tuesday night rally in Cobb County, former President Donald Trump focused on the economy, immigration and his plans for the White House if he wins reelection in November.

During the portion on immigration, Trump mentioned the murder of Laken Riley, accusing his electoral opponent Vice President Kamala Harris of allowing criminals into the United States through what he said was an open border.

“Right here in Georgia, our nation was robbed of a brilliant 22-year-old nursing student, Laken Riley,” the former president said in part. “Laken was a brilliant young student, top of her class, going to be a great nurse, nursing student, everyone admired her. She was killed viciously while out on a jog, she was assaulted, beaten and horrifically murdered by an illegal alien.”

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Riley, at the time of her murder, was a nursing student at Augusta University and was jogging on campus at the University of Georgia in Athens when Jose Antonio Ibarra attacked and killed her on Feb. 22.

During the investigation of Ibarra, his criminal past in the U.S. after entering the country along with his brother Diego, came to light, with details of his time including charges of reckless endangerment of a child in New York. Both men are from Venezuela.

“You saw the picture from Venezuela. The savage monster who murdered Laken was let in and released into our country by Kamala Harris. He came in through open borders,” Trump said while talking about Riley’s death. “Nobody even checked him. Come right in, come right in, his brother was also in Georgia illegally.”

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• Laken Riley murder case: Attorneys say Jose Ibarra won’t get a fair trial in Athens

Federal officials told Channel 2 Action News previously that they were unable to confirm exactly when the Ibarras entered the U.S., and could not verify his immigration status.

When Jose Ibarra was arrested, Athens-Clarke County Police Chief Jeffrey Clark said they learned he was not a U.S. citizen and that he did not know Riley before the attack.

In September, Harris took a trip to the border for the first time as the Democratic presidential nominee and outlined a plan to crack down on asylum claims and continue restrictions put in place by the Biden administration during the summer to limit asylum access.

While Trump has continued to hammer Harris on her border and immigration policies, the Harris campaign has put fixing the “broken immigration system” in America as one of the platform priorities ahead of the November election.

The campaign’s literature says Harris “knows that our immigration system is broken and needs comprehensive reform,” including both stronger security at the border and a way for migrants to earn American citizenship.

The Trump campaign site states goals of ending catch-and-release policies, restoring the Remain in Mexico program and eliminating what they call asylum fraud. Additionally, the campaign says they will deputized the National Guard and local law enforcement to “assist with rapidly removing illegal alien gang members and criminals” and provide a “merit-based immigration system that protects American labor and promotes American values.”

Specific details on both campaign’s plans were not available on their policy platform sites.

Harris will return to Georgia for a campaign stop in Atlanta on Saturday, while the Trump campaign site shows the former president will return to Georgia for a Turning Point Action rally in Duluth on Oct. 23 at Gas South Arena.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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