Laken Riley murder: Internet backs Marjorie Taylor Greene as she seeks death penalty for 'illegal alien'

NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene took to X (formerly Twitter) to call for the death penalty of Jose Antonio Ibarra, the 26-year-old who is accused of murdering a junior nursing student at the University of Georgia.

The body of Laken Riley, 22, was discovered in a wooded area on campus, on February 22. Ibarra was arrested and charged with her kidnapping and murder the following day.

According to the New York Post, Ibarra is a Venezuelan national who illegally crossed the southern border into El Paso, Texas in September 2022. He was released from DHS custody as they ran short on detention space.

UGA Police Chief Jeffrey Clark stated that Ibarra was neither a UGA student nor a US citizen. He also did not have a prior relationship with the victim.

"He did not know her at all. I think this is a crime of opportunity where he saw an individual and bad things happened," he said.

Marjorie Taylor Greene's tweet

The Georgia representative posted on X on February 23, sharing the coverage of the crime story by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

"Ibarra is an illegal alien and murdered a young woman the age of my own children. Deportation is not enough. He deserves the death penalty," she wrote.

Quoting her shared article, she continued, "'The man, Jose Antonio Ibarra, was charged with malice murder, felony murder, aggravated battery, aggravated assault, false imprisonment, kidnapping, hindering a 911 call, and concealing the death of another in the death of 22-year-old Laken Hope Riley, according to UGA police Chief Jeffrey Clark. Ibarra lives in Athens, but is not a U.S. citizen, Clark said. He has no known affiliation with the university. Investigators do not believe Ibarra knew Riley.'”

Internet reacts to Marjorie Taylor Greene's tweet

Netizens are fuming over the murder and the accused, as the following tweets responding to MTG demonstrate.

A user enquired, "The death penalty is on the table in GA, right?"

"Death penalty is a must. They don’t really have that where they come from. Would be good to introduce them to what we call capital punishment. Let the word spread," wrote another.

"I hope her family sues everyone who facilitated her murder," shared a third.

"So do the people that allowed him to roam freely in this country then, seems they would be no different than someone that drove someone to a robbery where a murder occurred … accessories to the crime," vented a fourth.

"Such a heartbreaking tragedy! And the fact that it was an illegal immigrant, the people of this nation should be OUTRAGED!!!!!!" exclaimed a fifth.

This article contains remarks made on the Internet by individual people and organizations. MEAWW cannot confirm them independently and does not support claims or opinions being made online.