USA: Life sentence for undocumented Venezuelan targeted by Trump

A Venezuelan immigrant in an illegal situation in the United States was sentenced Wednesday to life imprisonment without reduction for the murder in February of a student, a case extensively exploited by Donald Trump in his electoral campaign.

“Justice for Laken Riley!”, the president-elect wrote on his Truth Social network after the announcement of the conviction, while the sentence had not yet been pronounced. “It is time to secure our border and drive these criminals and bandits out of our country so that nothing like this can ever happen again!” he added, assimilating as he did throughout its crime and illegal immigration campaign.

A judge in the state of Georgia (southeast) found José Antonio Ibarra, a 26-year-old Venezuelan, guilty of all ten counts against him, and sentenced him to life imprisonment, without parole. on parole for the murder of Laken Riley. This 22-year-old student was found dead in February near the lake a stone’s throw from the university in the student city of Athens where she had gone jogging.

Before the sentencing, several of the victim’s relatives spoke, including his younger sister, Lauren Phillips, who said she “now lives in a constant state of fear, anger and sadness” and described the accused as a “predator inhuman”.

The condemned man, who does not speak English fluently, followed the proceedings and the verdict with the help of a translator. He has 30 days to appeal. The affair took a political turn when Republicans demanded that Democratic President Joe Biden present an “apology” to Laken Riley’s family. They blamed the killing on what they said was the Biden administration’s lax border control policy.

Witness, victim or perpetrator of violence?