Lindsey Graham says DHS confirmed Laken Riley’s killer was illegally paroled into US: ‘Breaking the law’

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., has written on social media that the Department of Homeland Security told him Jose Antonio Ibarra, who has been accused of killing Georgia student Laken Riley, was paroled into the US illegally because the Central Processing Center in El Paso, Texas, was capped. Riley, 22, an Augusta University nursing school student, was allegedly attacked and killed by Ibarra while she was out jogging at the University of Georgia in Athens.

Lindsey Graham says DHS confirmed Laken Riley’s killer, Jose Antonio Ibarra, was illegally paroled into US (@LindseyGrahamSC/X, Clarke County Sheriff’s Office via AP)

What did Lindsey Graham say?

Graham posted on X, “DHS just confirmed to me that the man charged with Laken Riley’s murder was paroled into the U.S. illegally, “due to detention capacity at the Central Processing Center in El Paso, Texas.””

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“He wasn’t granted parole because he provided a significant benefit to the country or that he had a humanitarian need, as the law requires. The Biden Administration is breaking the law at the expense of innocent Americans,” he added.

Previously, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) told Fox News Digital that the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) encountered the suspect on September 8, 2022. He was subsequently “paroled and released for further processing.”

ICE confirmed in the past that Ibarra was arrested by the New York Police Department a year before he was paroled. At the time, he was “charged with acting in a manner to injure a child less than 17 and a motor vehicle license violation.” While the agency initially said he was arrested on September 14, 2023, it later went on to correct the record and say he was actually arrested on August 31, 2023.

Riley was found dead near a lake with “visible injuries,” according to UGA Police Chief Jeff Clark. She was discovered after a friend reported that she went for a run and failed to return. She died from “blunt force trauma,” according to official police reports. Ibarra has been charged with malice murder, felony murder, aggravated battery, aggravated assault, false imprisonment, kidnapping, hindering a 911 call and concealing the death of another person.