I can’t say it any better myself.   Our esteemed state Rep. Bruce Williamson perfectly summed up how I feel and likely how just about everyone locally, and nationally for that matter, feels about the tragic murder of nursing student Laken Riley: heartbreaking and infuriating.  

Heartbreaking because the 22-year-old Riley was cut down in the prime of her life as she pursued an education and career that would enable her to care for and help countless others.

Infuriating because it was wholly preventable. Blaming Riley’s death on the president’s failed immigration policies implies he has policies promoting legal immigration that just aren’t working. Biden and his administration actually whole heartedly endorse and sanction illegal immigration, for reasons that seem clear to me but I’ll allow you to speculate, and his policies are working exactly as intended, having now trickled down to some state and local levels.

With dire, and in this case deadly, consequences.

Like a lot of you, I thought little Walton County might be insulated from the invasion taking place on the nation’s southern border. Hyperbole? Enemies of our country are sending thousands of fighting age men across the border every single day, every single week. It’s been happening from day one of the Biden presidency, when he made all of President Trump’s border policies go away with a stroke of his executive order pen. There are now millions of illegal immigrants dispersed throughout our country, equal to the population of Atlanta and more by some estimates.

Why is that? To what end? 

Then came the revelation city leaders in Atlanta and Athens have declared their municipalities sanctuary cities, which I didn’t know until Riley’s murder, putting our little community in the crosshairs of this illegal immigration insanity. Again, hyperbole? How do you think illegals get back and forth between the two cities, which we are equidistant from? Pretty sure Hwy. 78 and Hwy. 138 are their routes of choice.

Once these national issues touch you close to home, like this one has, all of a sudden they become very much local issues instead.

Especially when Riley’s murder took place at the University of Georgia, less than 30 minutes from downtown Monroe. Especially when so many of our friends and neighbors are alumns of UGA, and like to go back to Athens all the time. Especially, and this is what’s most important, when so many of our friends and neighbors have daughters, and sons, who are currently Bulldogs.

All Riley did was go out for a morning jog, like so many of those sons and daughters likely do. Wrong place, wrong time, wrong person. Just heartbreaking.

 Riley’s alleged murderer, Jose Antonio Ibarra, reportedly illegally entered the country in 2022. Since then he has been arrested twice, one of those arrests coming in Athens in October of last year, when he was accused of shoplifting at a local Walmart.

Due to his status as an illegal in a sanctuary city, he was released both times. I mean, why is he still here? Just infuriating. 

Thank the good Lord our elected officials locally don’t support these illegal immigration policies and are doing everything they can to mitigate their impact on their constituents. And thank the good Lord we have members of local law enforcement like Sheriff Joe Chapman (we’re going to miss that guy come next  January) who will do whatever is necessary to keep the residents of Walton County safe from all criminal activity foreign or domestic.        

My deepest condolences go out to the family of Laken Riley. The kind of elected leadership and law enforcement we have in Walton County is what she deserved. Not what she got in Athens and Clarke County.

How much more of this are we, as a country, going to put up with?  

Patrick Graham is the proprietor and publisher of The Covington News. His email address is patrick.graham@waltontribune.com.