South Carolina Attorney General Pushes Laken Riley Act

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Amid a worsening crisis at the southern border, South Carolina attorney general Alan Wilson is leading a nationwide coalition of prosecutors eager to strengthen law enforcement’s hand when it comes to detaining illegal aliens who commit crimes. Wilson and twenty-five other attorneys general sent a letter (.pdf) this week to leaders in the U.S. Senate encouraging them to pass the Laken Riley Act (H.R. 7511).

The proposed legislation would require the detention of any illegal alien accused of a larceny, burglary, theft or shoplifting offense. The bill cleared the U.S. House of Representatives by a 251-170 vote on March 7, 2024. Thirty-seven (37) Democrats joined 214 Republicans in supporting the bill. Minority whip Jim Clyburn was the only member of the South Carolina delegation who voted against it.

Laken Hope Riley, 22, an Augusta University nursing student from Woodstock, Georgia, was murdered on the campus of the University of Georgia on the morning of Thursday, February 22, 2024. Her body was found by school police in a wooded area at 12:38 p.m. EST that same day after her friends became concerned when she did not return from a morning run near the school’s intramural fields.

Riley was a cross country runner in high school who was active at her church, including participating in missions trips. According to her obituary, she “loved nursing and caring for others” and “was devoted to serving the Lord.”

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“Her smile was extremely infectious, and she spread joy to others everywhere she went,” the obituary added.

“We lost one of the brightest lights that has ever been,” one of Riley’s sorority sisters said at a vigil held four days after her death, praising Riley for showing devotion in “every aspect of her life.”

According to police, Riley met a violent end in what they have described as a “crime of opportunity.” Her head was reportedly “disfigured” as a result of the “blunt force trauma” inflicted upon her by her assailant, later identified by police as 26-year-old Jose Antonio Ibarra. After murdering Riley, Ibarra allegedly “dragged (her) to a secluded area.” Riley’s phone dialed 9-1-1 at one point during the attack, although police have not said what information may have been included on the call – the contents of which have not been released.

Ibarra has been charged with malice murder, felony murder, aggravated battery, aggravated assault, false imprisonment, kidnapping, hindering a 9-1-1 call and concealing

Ibarra is a 26-year-old from Venezuela who entered the United States illegally by crossing the U.S.-Mexican border in Texas in September 2022. According to police, he resided in an apartment complex approximately one mile from where Riley’s body was found.

(Click to View)

According to reporter Rosie Manins of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Ibarra had previously “been arrested by federal and local authorities in multiple jurisdictions since unlawfully entering the country.” In fact, a warrant for his arrest was issued on December 20, 2023 in connection with a shoplifting incident.

Ibarra is one of the millions of undocumented aliens who have been apprehended and then released into the continental United States. He was released to New York, where he was charged in September 2023 with child endangerment – but released before U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents could detain him.

Ibarra’s brother – 29-year-old Diego Jose Ibarra – is another illegal alien who has run afoul of the law on multiple occasions after making his own unauthorized border crossing in April 2023. Both Ibarras are allegedly affiliated with the Venezuelan-based Tren de Aragua gang.

The escalating crisis at the U.S.-Mexican border has become a defining issue for incumbent president Joe Biden – who undid many of the border protection measures enacted by his predecessor, Donald Trump. Specifically, Biden halted construction of a border wall, actively circumvented immigration law and recently endorsed mass amnesty for illegal aliens.

Our media outlet saw the crisis firsthand during our trip to the Yuma sector of the border in southern Arizona last spring. A diverse mix of desert, farmland, river, urban and suburban border territory, Yuma is one of nine sectors of America’s increasingly porous 1,954-mile border with Mexico patrolled by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency, a division of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

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According to the latest data from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency, a shocking 7.3 million southwest land border encounters have been recorded since Biden took office in 2021. That total does not include the millions of “got-aways” – or illegal immigrants whose crossings are observed but who are never detained. It also fails to include the number of undetected illegal alien crossings at the border.

In addition to the national security/ public safety threat posed by this mass undocumented invasion, American infrastructure cannot support all of these new arrivals … nor can American taxpayers afford them.

According to a report (.pdf) published last November by the U.S. House homeland security committee, the annual cost of housing and providing for “known got-aways and illegal aliens who have been released into the country (since Biden became president)” is a staggering $451 billion. Per year.

And that was several million illegal aliens ago …

According to Wilson, Biden’s “repeated actions of ignoring the rule of law and abandoning successful policies have created a border crisis of historic proportions.”

“Every state is a border state with Joe Biden as president,” Wilson said in a statement. “Illegal immigration is out of control, and Americans are paying the price. The U.S. Senate needs to pass the Laken Riley Act to give us another tool to combat illegal immigration and protect other Americans before it’s too late.”

While state and federal officials push Biden to act, Trump has vowed to implement corrective actions on border security if he is elected president this fall. As my outlet has previously reported, though, the former president wasn’t always as good as his word on this issue. That must change in the event he receives another term in office.

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THE LETTER …

(S.C. Attorney General)

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR …

Will Folks is the founding editor of the news outlet you are currently reading. Prior to founding FITSNews, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina and before that he was a bass guitarist and dive bar bouncer. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and seven (soon to be eight) children.

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