Several U.S. senators are demanding answers from Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas about why the Venezuelan immigrant accused of killing 22-year-old Augusta University nursing student Laken Riley was allowed into the United States in the first place. I’m looking for it.
A letter sent by 10 Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee demands answers as to why Jose Antonio Ybarra, 26, was granted parole to enter the United States.
Parole for immigrants should be granted on a “case-by-case” basis, and only when there are urgent humanitarian reasons or important public interests that justify parole,” the letter states.
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University of Georgia murder suspect Jose Ybarra lived within a five-minute walk of the scene where he allegedly killed 22-year-old nursing student Laken Riley on February 22nd. (Mark Sims for Fox News Digital/Laken Riley/Jose Ibarra)
The senators have requested a copy of Ybarra’s case file by March 8 at the latest. Specifically, it wants to know “what pressing humanitarian reasons or important public interests justified the decision to grant Mr. Ibarra parole.”
“While we have previously expressed serious doubts about how the department was able to make hundreds of thousands of case-by-case parole decisions each year, you in prior sworn testimony “assured Congress that each alien was granted parole on an individual basis,” the letter to Mayorkas said. “Regarding the use of parole, you testified on November 8, 2023, ‘We decide on a case-by-case basis. That must apply to granting Ybarra parole.'”
Fox News Digital reached out to the Department of Homeland Security.
Riley was allegedly killed while riding on a dirt path near Herrick Lake in Athens. She died from blunt force trauma to her head. Authorities are calling the killing a “crime of opportunity.”
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Laken Riley poses for a photo to post on Facebook. Riley, a nursing student at the University of Georgia, was found dead near a lake on campus on February 22nd. (Alison Phillips/Facebook)
Ibarra is accused of a crime. malicious murder, felony murder, felonious assault, felonious assault, false imprisonment, kidnapping, interfering with a 911 call, and concealing the death of another.
He entered the United States illegally in 2022 and was granted border parole, which allows noncitizens to temporarily enter the country for emergency or humanitarian reasons, authorities said.
He went to New York City, where he was arrested in August and “charged with injury to a child under 17 years of age and motor vehicle license violation,” according to U.S. Customs and Immigration.
Laken Riley smiled and posed for photos as he ran. Riley, a nursing student at the University of Georgia, was found dead near a lake on campus on February 22nd. (Laken Riley/Instagram)
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Fox News reported this week that Ybarra was fired from his job as a dishwasher at the University of Georgia after it was discovered that he presented a fake green card to work in the cafeteria. He failed to submit further documentation and was fired without being paid his salary.
Fox News Digital’s Audrey Conklin and Adam Shaw contributed to this report.
