The wife of Jose Antonio Ibarra, the 26-year-old illegal immigrant from Venezuela who police arrested Friday for the murder of nursing student Laken Riley, 22, at the University of Georgia (UGA) campus, revealed in a Saturday interview that the couple originally married with the goal of furthering their cases for asylum in the United States.
Layling Franco told the New York Post on Saturday that she and Jose Ibarra (pictured above) entered the United States illegally through El Paso with her five-year-old son on September 8, 2022. Franco said the alleged killer made money by delivering food for Uber Eats, DoorDash and a local restaurant.
Jose Ibarra’s wife told the outlet the couple “got married so we could join our asylum cases,” and have “known each other our entire lives.” She reportedly claimed Jose Ibarra was not “aggressive” person and they did not physically fight when together.
Immigration experts say the end of the Remain in Mexico policy, enacted under former President Donald Trump and rescinded by President Joe Biden, has led to a sharp increase in asylum cases by individuals who enter the country illegally and then are released into the United States while they await a distant court date to adjudicate the asylum claims.
Prior to leaving New York, Jose Ibarra reportedly faced child endangerment charges in August 2023, when the outlet reported police found him driving a “gas-powered moped” with Franco’s child, who had no “head protection or restraint.” The Post claims the case was later sealed.
The Post explained, “the couple split up” by November, when Jose Ibarra left his wife and step-son in New York to move to Georgia and live with his brother, 29-year-old Diego Ibarra, in search of better work in Athens, Georgia.
Jose Ibarra was arrested on Friday for his alleged murder of Riley (pictured here), who was reportedly a former UGA student enrolled in a nursing program that allowed her to engage in UGA social life when she was killed on the university’s campus. He was denied bail on Saturday.
Diego Ibarra reportedly entered Texas illegally in 2023 and was sent to New York, but had relocated to Georgia by September, when WSB-TV reports he was arrested for driving under the influence and without a license.
One month later, the outlet reported, Diego Ibarra was arrested for shoplifting, then arrested again in December “for failing to appear for fingerprinting.”
By February, Diego Ibarra was reportedly working as a dishwasher at the UGA campus using a stolen green card, but the university told WSB-TV he was never paid due to the fake credentials.
After police located Diego Ibarra while searching for his brother, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported he gave law enforcement a fake green card to confirm his identity, though it is unclear if it is the same fraudulent credential he reportedly gave UGA officials to secure a job. Diego Ibarra was arrested Friday evening for possessing a fraudulent U.S. permanent resident card.
The AJC variously referred to the Ibarra brothers as “Athens resident” and “Athens man” in materials published Saturday and Sunday, sparking an intense online backlash from users due to their illegal immigration from Venezuela.
– – –
Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Georgia Star News, The Virginia Star, and The Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Steve Allen, “ I believe the flood of illegals was the top priority of the democrats/uni-party for the Biden administration.”
Yes Steve! I watched Biden campaigning with a small group of people telling them he would bring in two MILLION a year! He’s an absolute globalist traitor about whom we should know from history:
“It is also a habit of tyrants to prefer the company of aliens to that of citizens at table and in society; citizens, they feel, are enemies, but aliens will offer no opposition.”
—Aristotle (384 BC—322 BC)
Every week I archive multiple articles about the heinous crimes committed by ILLEGAL ALIENS. Rape, murder, child sexual abuse, rioting, robbery, assault, and the list goes on. I believe the flood of illegals was the top priority of the democrats/uni-party for the Biden administration. Do they actually believe that American citizens would just rollover and let these third-worlders become U.S. citizens and be allowed to vote? If it wasn’t for President Trump that would surly happen. This issue is the greatest threat to our national sovereignty.
“for failing to appear for finger printing” ??? There is a story here, surly our legal system has not screwed this process up as well.