Sex slaying of Georgia co-ed put spotlight on crime, illegal immigration

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Jose Ibarra unwittingly became the poster boy for the ills of illegal immigration and escalating violent crime.

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The 26-year-old illegal immigrant — a reputed member of the now notorious Tren de Aragua street gang — became the embodiment of everything that was going wrong in America.

And the Democrats paid the price at the polls: Denying violent crime and illegal immigration are grave problems turned out to be a losing strategy. Woke ideology displaced common sense.

On Friday, Ibarra went on trial in the vicious murder of 22-year-old University of Georgia nursing student Laken Riley in the early morning hours of Feb. 22. Riley had gone out for a run around a lake on the university campus.

She had no idea that soon she would be fighting for her life and drawing her final breaths.

“On Feb. 22, Jose Ibarra put on a black hat, a hoodie-style jacket, and some black kitchen-style disposable gloves, and he went hunting for females on the University of Georgia campus,” prosecutor Sheila Ross said in her opening statement.

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The first woman he saw was Riley, whom he attacked.

“When Laken Riley refused to be his rape victim, he bashed her head in with a rock repeatedly,” Ross added.

Cops would call the shocking slaying a “crime of opportunity.” It could have been Riley, it could have been any one of a dozen other young women.

Ibarra has opted for a judge-alone trial. On Friday, with his wrists shackled, the Venezuelan wore a blue plaid shirt, grey dress pants and an impassive facial expression.

Ibarra is charged with malice murder, felony murder, kidnapping, aggravated assault with intent to rape, and other charges, including being a “peeping Tom.” He has pleaded not guilty.

The accused killer’s lawyer offered that prosecutors would not be able to prove beyond a reasonable doubt his client murdered Riley.

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Among the evidence presented on Friday was her harrowing 911 call. Mostly the call was silent except for chirping birds and a pitiful whimpering sound at the end.

Ibarra was arrested the day after cops found Riley’s half-naked battered body. Cops later admitted the arrest was a combination of good police work — and luck.

Inside a dumpster near the apartment where Ibarra lived with his two brothers (also illegal immigrants), cops discovered a dark sweatshirt with hair and blood on it. CCTV captured Ibarra dumping the garment.

Forensic testing revealed Ibarra and Riley’s DNA on the sweatshirt. His DNA was also found underneath her fingernails.

Normally, this would simply be a murder trial — more horrible than most, granted — but because of the slaying’s role in the U.S. presidential race, and electoral contests in other crime-ravaged locales, the tragic slaying of Laken Riley took on greater meaning.

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Ibarrra slipped over the border at El Paso, Texas in September 2022. He was released into the country on parole and racked up charges in New York for “acting in a manner to injure a child less than 17 and a motor vehicle license violation.”

His brother Diego is a gangbanger with Tren de Aragua and has been busted for green card fraud.

The American people correctly believed that illegal immigration and crime were out of control.

Team Democrat and its supplicants told them otherwise, even as the bodies and outrages piled up.

Another North American political leader is also pooh-poohing illegal immigration, crime, lax bail, soft sentences and thugs rampaging in the streets.

At this point, it seems blowing off warnings from cops, prosecutors and the public will come with a heavy political price in this country.

bhunter@postmedia.com

@HunterTOSun

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