Republicans, who have demonized medical professionals since the COVID pandemic, are exploiting the death of nursing student Laken Riley who was allegedly murdered by an undocumented immigrant, Jose Ibarra, during her morning run at the University of Georgia in Athens, notes Fox 5.
Former President Donald Trump, who was found liable for raping a woman, used Riley’s death as a prop on social media: “Crooked Joe Biden’s Border INVASION is destroying our country and killing our citizens! The horrible murder of 22-year-old Laken Riley at the University of Georgia should have NEVER happened!” reports Fox 5.
Republican members of the House Judiciary Committee — who have repeatedly attacked the medical establishment — are requesting information from the Department of Homeland Security as they start an investigation into Ibarra, who is in the custody of local law enforcement, notes News Nation.
U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), a Trump ally who has attacked medical professionals during COVID, predicted the nursing student’s death is ”gonna change this election as much as anything,” reports The Associated Press.
While Republicans have used the nursing student’s death to demonize immigrants, a study published by the National Academy of Sciences showed native-born U.S. residents were more than twice as likely to be arrested for violent crimes than undocumented immigrants.
Republicans have desperately tried to blame President Joe Biden for the death of the 22-year-old nursing student, while ignoring the horrific murders under the terms of Republican presidents, notes The Washington Post.
PBS also notes studies that show immigrants are less violent than Americans:
Another in the journal Criminology analyzed multiple data sources from 1990 to 2014 to conclude that increases in illegal immigration were generally in sync with reductions in violent crime or had no significant correlation.
A study published last year by the National Bureau of Economic Research, a private group, found immigrants have been incarcerated at a lower rate than U.S.-born white men since 1960.
(Sources: The Washington Post, Fox 5, News Nation, The Associated Press, National Academy of Sciences, The Washington Post. PBS)