Migrant charged in death of Georgia nursing student Laken Riley slipped through law enforcement’s hands twice
The Venezuelan national charged in the death of Georgia nursing student Laken Riley twice slipped through the hands of law enforcement last year — and could have been deported after a bust in the Big Apple.
Jose Antonio Ibarra, 26, who is facing murder charges in the death of the 22-year-old coed on Thursday, was arrested in Queens on Aug. 31 and charged with endangering a child — but was cut loose before immigration officials could file a request to ask local cops to hold him in custody, authorities said Monday.
Ibarra was also wanted on an arrest warrant in Georgia for blowing off a shoplifting court appearance in December, one federal lawmaker said.
“ICE confirmed what we already know: Jose Ibarra was in the country illegally,” US Rep. Houston Gaines (R-Georgia) posted on X Monday.
“What the media hasn’t reported was that he was cited in Athens for shoplifting in Oct. — & there was a bench warrant for his arrest for failing to show in court,” said Gaines, who posted the arrest report online.
Yet the accused killer was free when Riley was brutally murdered while out on a run on the University of Georgia campus on Thursday.
Ibarra first dodged the law in New York last year, when he was busted in Queens but released before an immigration request to hold him was filed with the NYPD and would’ve triggered the deportation process, an agency spokesman told The Post.
“He was released by the NYPD before a detainer could be issued,” the spokesman said in an email Monday. “On Feb. 23, 2024, [Enforcement and Removal Operations] Atlanta encountered Ibarra pursuant to him being arrested by the University of Georgia Police Department and charged with murder and other crimes.”
The agency said an immigration “detainer” has been filed against Ibarra in Georgia — albeit tragically too late for Riley.
With a detainer in place, immigration officials would take Ibarra into custody if he is released or, if he is convicted of Riley’s murder, after he finishes his prison term. He would then be deported.
Police said the bubbly nursing student went for a jog in a wooded area on the University of Georgia campus when she was attacked and killed shortly after 12:30 p.m. on Thursday.
Ibarra was arrested the following day and is being held without bail.
The accused killer entered the US illegally in El Paso, Texas, on Sept. 8, 2022, with his wife and her son seeking asylum, and was later released “for further processing,” ICE said.
He wound up in New York City, where he worked in food delivery and at an unnamed restaurant.
On Aug. 31, cops allegedly spotted him riding a scooter in Queens with his 5-year-old stepson on board — with the child not wearing a safety helmet or required child restraints, according to police.
Ibarra was charged with a felony and released.
The migrant then left the five boroughs to join his brother, Diego Ibarra, in Athens, Georgia, not far from the university campus where Riley was beaten to death last week.
On Oct. 27, he was arrested in an Athens Walmart store and charged with shoplifting, the arrest report shows — only to miss a court appearance and have a warrant issued on Dec. 20, Gaines said.
The Athens-Clarke County Police Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Post.
Now being held without bail, Gaines and Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp have stepped up calls for Athens District Attorney Deborah Gonzalez to throw the book at the troublesome migrant, the Athens Banner-Herald reported.
Gonzalez has come under fire from GOP lawmakers in the past for her allegedly soft-on-crime reputation, the outlet said.
Asked if he trusted the prosecutor to bring Ibarra to justice on Monday morning, Kemp told reporters, “Well, she best do that.”
Gonzalez’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Post on Monday.
Meanwhile, Ibarra’s brother, Diego, who previously worked at the university, has been taken into custody by ICE for falsifying his green card to land the job on campus, authorities said.
Riley, a former nanny who transferred from the University of Georiga to the nearby Augusta University School of Nursing last year, is due to be mourned at funeral services on Friday.
In their first statement since the slaying, her family called her “an amazing daughter.”
“We wish to thank the public for their prayers and thoughts during this tragic time,” the coed’s family said in a statement, according to Fox News Digital.
“Laken was an amazing daughter, sister, friend and overall person in general. Her love for the Lord was exemplified in every aspect of her life. She will be missed every day, but we promise to honor her life moving forward in a very big way,” they said.
