Laken Rileyâs death likely to make immigration crackdown an election year focus for Georgia GOP

Georgia Republicans are expected to pursue a slate of measures targeting illegal immigration after a suspect who officials say was in the U.S. illegally was charged with the murder of a student on the University of Georgia’s campus.

Senior Republicans are considering several still-evolving proposals, such as more stringent requirements that local governments cooperate with federal immigration authorities and stiffer penalties for illegal immigrants convicted of crimes.

The election-year push for new crackdowns comes after the death of nursing student Laken Riley, who was found dead at a wooded trail on campus hours after she went for a run.

The suspect charged with her death, Jose Antonio Ibarra, is a Venezuela native who authorities say entered the U.S. illegally in 2022 and was previously arrested in New York. His brother has also been charged with having a fake green card.

House Speaker Jon Burns, Senate President Pro Tem John Kennedy and other legislative leaders have indicated they will back new immigration-related measures in response to Riley’s killing. They’ll face a tight deadline with just weeks to go in the 2024 legislative session.

Gov. Brian Kemp, who will address an Athens business group early Monday, is said to be receptive to state-level immigration measures.

He has ratcheted up calls for President Joe Biden to shut down the U.S. border with Mexico and take other steps to deter uncontrolled migration. Earlier this month, he outlined plans to deploy more Georgia National Guard troops to Texas to patrol the border.

“Every state is a border state. We are beyond frustrated,” Kemp told Fox News on Sunday, adding: “This is a federal issue. This is an issue that the president can take action on.”

Democrats have accused Republicans of seeking to score political points in an election year. And some party figures slammed congressional GOP leaders for refusing to adopt a bipartisan Senate deal that would have made it harder for migrants to apply for asylum once they’ve entered the country illegally.

They say likely Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump pushed to kill the deal to ensure border problems remain a front-and-center issue in the race against Biden.

“If Republicans truly cared about border issues, they’d have passed recent bipartisan immigration reform instead of pandering to Trump,” said state Sen. Nikki Merritt, D-Gwinnett. “The hypocrisy is unreal.”

It’s not immediately clear what immigration-related legislation will emerge, but key GOP lawmakers took note of recommendations by Insurance Commissioner John King, the first statewide Latino elected official in Georgia history.

King, a native of Mexico, urged lawmakers to ban illegal immigrants charged with violent crimes from receiving bond “under any circumstances.” He also said legislators should block illegal immigrants who are convicted of a crime from being eligible for parole or early release.

“This is a logical, long overdue step that will keep criminal aliens behind bars where they belong and save lives,” King wrote in an Atlanta Journal-Constitution op-ed. “The time to act is now, before another tragedy strikes another family, and we must get it done.”

Others advocate for new restrictions on so-called “sanctuary” cities. Georgia law has banned cities and counties from adopting a “sanctuary policy” for nearly 15 years. But some local governments, including Athens-Clarke County, have limited their cooperation with federal immigration officials.

Athens-Clarke authorities say they check the criminal history of detainees to hold anyone with outstanding warrants but don’t keep undocumented immigrants jailed if they have no criminal history.