Laken Riley might still be alive if it wasn’t for NYC’s sanctuary city laws under ex-Mayor Bill de Blasio, lefty City Council members: critics
Murdered Georgia nursing student Laken Riley might still be alive if it wasn’t for sanctuary city policies pushed by former Mayor Bill de Blasio and left-wing extremists on the City Council — who have “blood on their hands,” critics told The Post.
Nearly six months before the 22-year-old Riley was found dead Feb. 22 on the University of Georgia’s campus, her alleged killer Jose Antonio Ibarra, 26, was arrested in Queens on Aug. 31 and charged with endangering a child.
However, because of migrant-friendly changes made to the sanctuary city policy in both 2014 in 2017 by de Blasio and the Melissa Mark-Viverito-led City Council, the NYPD had no choice but to cut the Venezuelan-born Ibarra loose — instead of turning him over to federal immigration officials — because he didn’t have any major crime convictions.
“The situation in New York City is outrageous, and any laws that protect criminals at the expense of New Yorkers must be repealed,” said Queens Councilman Robert Holden.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement “was formed as a result of what occurred during 9/11, and preventing local law enforcement from communicating with the feds is lunacy,” the centrist Democrat added.
“The nursing student in Georgia would be alive today if we weren’t a sanctuary city, and the blood is on the hands of Bill de Blasio and Melissa Mark-Viverito.”
Council Minority Leader Joe Borelli (R-Staten Island) also said he believes there’s a good chance Riley’s death could have been avoided.
“I can’t be certain that Ibarra would have been detained and deported [before Riley’s death], but I can say for certain that he wasn’t because of a series of laws the previous City Council and de Blasio signed into law,” he said.
De Blasio disputed that the NYPD had previously encountered Ibarra.
“But it’s sickening that a young, promising life was cut short,” the former mayor said.
“Any way you slice it, we need tougher border policies and comprehensive immigration reform.”
Mark-Viverito said she remains proud of the laws she helped pass to protect migrants.
“It is clear [Holden] is unfamiliar with the law and how it works,” the ex-speaker said.
“So that’s why I say he isn’t serious. He just wants air and print time to spew his MAGA talking points.
“The same reasons the law was put in place in the first place — and there is plenty of reporting on it — still are valid today, and I stand by the law as is.”
Both Holden and Borelli told The Post they plan to introduce legislation to repeal the sanctuary city rules.
“You have to start with introducing the bill, and then it is up to the public to remind Council members that they should prioritize the general public over repeat and violent criminals,” said Borelli.
However, getting such a measure approved will likely be a long uphill battle — even if Mayor Eric Adams agrees to support it as most political insiders expect he would.
Adams, a former NYPD captain, on Tuesday called for the rules to be loosened so that migrants “suspected” of “serious” crimes could also be turned over to ICE — as they once were under sanctuary city policies implemented as early as 1989 under ex-mayors Ed Koch and Michael Bloomberg.
But Council Speaker Adrienne Adams shot down the idea a day later, saying she and the rest of the Council’s progressive Democratic majority won’t be considering any rule changes.
