Laken Riley's father urges Georgia Senate to pass immigration legislation

Days after appearing on national television to criticize the politicization of his daughter’s death, the father of 22-year-old Athens nursing student Laken Riley on Wednesday gave a speech before the Georgia Senate to urge lawmakers to pass more stringent legislation that targets undocumented immigrants. 

Riley was killed Feb. 22 while jogging at the University of Georgia’s intramural fields of College Station Road in Athens. The next day, UGA police arrested Jose Antonio Ibarra, 26, an undocumented Venezuelan man living in Athens, and charged him with her murder.   

“Part of my purpose has been taken,” said Jason Riley in his speech to the state Senate. “God gave me a beautiful daughter to father, protect, provide for and nurture. A man with an evil heart stole her life.” 

Riley’s death ignited a flurry of political talking points and immigration legislation, including state Rep. Jesse Petrea’s House Bill 1105, which would withhold federal and state funding from sheriffs who refuse to report undocumented detainees and prisoners to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The bill passed in the House on Crossover Day in a 97-74 vote, adding teeth to an existing state law that has largely gone unenforced, but has yet to be voted on in the Senate.   

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“My vision for every senator in this chamber is that you protect citizens from this illegal invasion,” Riley said. “Please recognize over a million illegal aliens are in this state and making families nervous. Please recognize Athens-Clarke is a sanctuary city, and this policy and the lack of action led to the murder of my daughter.” 

While Georgia is home to about a million immigrants, only about 342,000 of them are undocumented, according to a 2020 report by the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute.

While there is no standard definition to what constitutes a "sanctuary city" and if Athens meets that criteria, critics point to a 2019 resolution passed by the city commission that notes Athens is “… welcoming to people from all lands and backgrounds and strives to foster a community where individuals of all statuses feel safe, are able to prosper, and can breathe free … .”

More:Laken Riley's father 'angry' over her death becoming political talking point

In an on-camera interview that aired Monday on NBC's TODAY show and an extended interview that published on NBCNews.com, Jason Riley said that the death of his daughter is "being used politically to get those votes."

"I'd rather her not be such a political, how you say — it started a storm in our country," Jason Riley told NBC, "and it's incited a lot of people."

After prompting from U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Georgia, President Joe Biden mentioned Riley during his State of the Union address, though he mispronounced her name. Later, former President Donald Trump used Riley's death to blast Democratic immigration policy during a rally in Rome, Georgia, that was attended by Riley's family, though not her birth father.

USA Today network editor Caitlyn Stroh-Page contributed to this report.