Peach Tree Times

Tea Party Patriots co-founder Jenny Beth Martin said people who don't believe Biden's border policies are to blame for crimes like the murder of Laken Riley are wrong. 

“Jose Antonio Ibarra entered the country illegally in September 2022 and was apprehended, then released," Martin told Peach Tree Times. "Almost a year later, he was arrested in New York, and released again. Then he came to Georgia, where he’s been charged with the murder of Laken Riley, a 22-year-old nursing student."

"A new poll says 61% of Georgians polled believe Joe Biden’s border policies are to blame for crimes like that," she said. "My question is, what the heck is wrong with the remaining 39%?”

A poll of Georgia voters released by the League of American Workers (LAW) showed that 61% of Georgia voters think President Joe Biden’s border policies are to blame for crimes like an illegal alien’s February 22 murder of University of Georgia nursing student Laken Riley. 

Riley, a 22-year-old nursing student at Augusta University, was found murdered on February 22, 2024, after going for a jog at the University of Georgia campus. Jose Antonio Ibarra, a 26-year-old illegal alien from Venezuela, was charged in her murder. Riley had been killed by blunt force trauma to the head.

Ibarra had previously been arrested by the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol on September 8, 2022 for entering the U.S. illegally near El Paso, Texas. He was then released pending adjudication of his claim for “asylum.”

He was then arrested again in August 2023 by the New York Police Department and charged with acting in a manner to injure a child and a motor vehicle license violation.

Almost half, 46%, of Georgia voters said Biden policies bear a “great deal” of responsibility for crimes such as Riley’s murder by an illegal alien, while 15% said these policies bear “some” responsibility. 

Among voters who have heard a “great deal” or some about the Riley case, 68% blame Biden administration policies. 

During his State of the Union address on March 7, Biden referred to Laken Riley as “Lincoln Riley” after U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor-Greene (R-Ga.) shouted “Say her name!” to the president.

Lincoln Riley is the 40-year-old, male, head football coach of the University of Southern California football team. 

The U.S. House passed the “Laken Riley Act” on March 7 with a vote of 251-170. The bill would require the detention and deportment of illegal aliens charged with theft. 

Every Republican and 37 Democrats supported the measure, while 170 Democrats voted against it. Every Democrat Georgia member of the U.S. House voted against the act.

The bill is now pending in the U.S. Senate.

The LAW poll also found that former President Donald Trump leads President Joe Biden by ten points among Georgia voters in the 2024 race for the White House. 

The survey was conducted among 600 likely Georgia voters on May 1-4, 2024 by North Star Public Opinion Research.

Founded in 2022 by political strategist and commentator Steve Cortes, LAW conducts research and develops proposals on public policies impacting American workers and the economy.

Tea Party Patriots is a nonprofit social welfare organization founded in 2009 whose mission is “to equip Americans with the resources and training they need to be engaged citizens and effective activists.”

Jenny Beth Martin is a co-founder and current national coordinator of the Tea Party Patriots. She also works as a columnist for The Washington Times. She wrote and published Tea Party Patriots: The Second American Revolution, along with co-author Mark Meckler. 

Martin attended Reinhardt University, and also received a bachelor’s from the University of Georgia.