WASHINGTON D.C. — Today, Independent Women’s Forum (IWF) and IWF’s Center for American Safety and Security (CASS) issued the following statement on the guilty verdict and life sentencing in the tragic case of Laken Riley, a 22-year-old nursing student who was out for a run when she was brutally killed by Jose Ibarra, an illegal immigrant from Venezuela with a well-documented criminal history. 

Meaghan Mobbs, director of IWF’s Center for American Safety and Security, said: 

“The recent conviction and life sentence without parole of Jose Ibarra for the heinous murder of 22-year-old nursing student Laken Riley is a sobering reminder of the devastating consequences of failed immigration policies and sanctuary city laws. Ibarra, an illegal immigrant from Venezuela, brutally attacked and killed Ms. Riley while she was jogging on the University of Georgia campus in February 2024. Tragically, his criminal history—including prior arrests for assault and theft—was well-documented but ultimately ignored due to lax enforcement and sanctuary policies that shielded him from deportation.

“Sanctuary cities, under the guise of compassion, have created havens not for the law-abiding but for criminals, allowing violent individuals like Ibarra to evade accountability. These policies fail to provide sanctuary to anyone except those intent on causing harm, leaving innocent Americans to bear the tragic consequences. Ms. Riley’s death is a heartbreaking example of how unchecked illegal migration and misguided local policies can combine to erode public safety.

“Justice was served in the courtroom with Ibarra’s conviction, but true justice will come only when we take definitive action to prevent such atrocities from happening again. The incoming administration must make border security a national priority, and move aggressively to ensure criminal aliens do not slip through the cracks of a broken system. They must be swiftly removed from our communities before they can inflict further harm.

“The safety and security of American citizens must always come first. We owe it to Laken Riley, her family, and countless other victims to enact policies that protect innocent lives and uphold the rule of law.”

Learn more about IWF’s border security work below:

  • Earlier this year, Mobbs visited the southern border, where she spoke with border patrol agents and locals at the epicenter of the migrant crisis and witnessed the devastating impacts of an insecure border firsthand. 
  • CASS has developed a comprehensive policy focus to help lawmakers address the border crisis.
  • IW Features, IWF’s new storytelling platform, has exposed the dangerous fallout of the unprecedented border crisis in an exclusive documentary, “Brooklyn’s Border Crisis: Male Migrant Shelter Opens Steps From a Children’s School,” as told by Irina Edelstein, the Brooklyn chapter leader of IW’s national grassroots membership arm, Independent Women’s Network. Edelstein, an immigrant herself, joined Dr. Phil Primetime to break her silence on how the illegal migrant influx threatens the safety of communities nationwide.
  • IWF’s c4 sister organization, Independent Women’s Voice, launched the Safe Borders Petition in 2021 for the public to sign and the Safe Borders Commitment for elected officials to show their commitment to “supporting legislation that applies all travel requirements to everyone equally and fairly, including those entering at our southern border.” 

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