The tragic murder of Laken Riley, allegedly at the hands of an illegal immigrant, received extensive media attention as the country went to great lengths to avoid any link to the border crisis.
Riley, a 22-year-old nursing student at the Augusta Medical School campus in Athens, was found dead on the University of Georgia campus Thursday after her roommate alerted authorities that she had not returned home from her morning run. .
Police charged Jose Antonio Ibarra with malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault, aggravated assault, false imprisonment, kidnapping, interfering with a 911 call, and concealing the death of another person. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) later confirmed that Mr. Ybarra had entered the United States illegally in 2022 and had been previously arrested in New York City, but some news outlets simply referred to him as a “criminal.” It is called.Lives in Athens” while concealing his immigration status in the report.
Associated Press report on Laken Riley murder omits suspect’s immigration status, focuses on dangers for women jogging alone
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)
Outkick columnist Mary Katherine Hamm, who ran the same route when she attended the University of Georgia, believes the media should tell the truth about what happened.
“The media needs to talk about the facts of the case, but many sources simply ignore that this person entered the country illegally and has a prior arrest record,” Hamm told America’s News. He told Bill Hemmer on “The Room.” . ”
“He entered the country illegally, said he wanted to apply for asylum, was in New York, was arrested on charges of child endangerment, and then released. “Because we can’t deliver,” she continued. “People, especially the media whose job it is to exploit facts, have to admit that just because we are letting millions of people into the country…doesn’t mean all of those people will commit violent crimes. No. I mean, some of them will.”
Over the weekend, the Associated Press was derided by conservatives for seeming to categorize the murders as “the horror of solo female athletes” rather than illegal immigration or weak crime laws. The Associated Press published an article on Saturday with the headline, “Nursing student killed while running highlights fear of lone female athlete,” but did not mention Ybarra’s immigration or criminal history, instead referring to Riley as a lone female athlete. The story focused on how he was murdered while jogging. .
ICE confirms Georgia student murder suspect entered the country illegally and was previously arrested in New York
Jose Ybarra was originally taken into custody by UGA police on Friday in connection with Riley’s death, but is now believed to have no relation to the victim. (Clark County Sheriff’s Office)
Hamm said she was perplexed that the AP’s “outlandish” article did not mention the suspect’s immigration status.
“I read the whole article. First of all, this is really scary, right? I used to run on that road too, and when I run alone, I think about this. There’s no statistics or any attempt to contextualize anything that might be helpful to female runners,” she said.
“What they’re doing is taking samples from two tragic murders in Iowa, Laken Riley and Molly Tibbetts, that happened a few years ago in 2018, and not mentioning either of them. No — what’s the thread that actually ties them together? The second thing is that both suspects, one of whom is serving a life sentence, were illegal immigrants,” Hamm said. “Perhaps the reason you’re missing this story is because you don’t want to deal with the fact that this is having a negative impact on the policies that are being implemented by the current administration, so you’re trying to turn it into a different story. .”
CNN claims ‘little evidence’ links crime to border crisis after Georgia student murder report
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 Thursday, February 22, 2024. (Alison Phillips/Facebook)
Ian Miller, a fellow writer at Outkick, said, “How hard the media tries to avoid mentioning any aspect of a story that makes their political party or progressive ideology look bad.” It’s really surprising,” he wrote.
On Sunday, Scripps News published an article with the headline, “Georgia student killed while out for a run, reigniting fears of female jogger,” and ABC News’ “Good Morning America” also reported on running alone. He emphasized safety concerns. ABC and other networks also highlighted the suspect’s illegal immigration status in other reports.
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson called on President Biden to strengthen border security and protect Americans in the wake of the shocking murders, CNN reported Monday. A report on Monday downplayed the connection between the suspect’s immigration status and the crime.
“Mr. Ibarra’s status as an illegal Venezuelan immigrant is currently being touted by Republican leaders in several states and nationally to support calls for stronger border security, but he is also promoting the link between immigration and crime. There is little evidence to show that,” CNN reported.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution took a similar approach in promoting coverage of the murder on social media.
“Georgia’s top Republican was quick to link the killing of students on the University of Georgia campus to President Joe Biden’s immigration policies and tout lax border controls after a Venezuelan-born suspect was charged with murder.” “The Atlanta Journal-Constitution newspaper published the article. X.
UGA Police Chief Jeffrey L. Clark said the “evidence is solid” against Ybarra.
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“The media has been dragged kicking and screaming into this and other related stories,” Media Research Center analyst Jorge Bonilla told Fox News Digital. Because you can’t escape from it.” “So we get a lot of nonsense from the Associated Press and related stories like the Athenian report. But don’t get me wrong: These stories and the omission of the most unpleasant details are Biden’s deliberate It would be complicit in both the destruction of borders and the deliberate destruction of Athens,” which wreaked havoc on our cities. ”
Fox News Digital’s Lindsay Kornick, Brooke Singman, David Rutz and Kristine Parks contributed to this report.
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