Federal Docs: Joe Biden’s DHS Gave Work Permit to Laken Riley’s Accused Killer Knowing He Had Criminal Record; Mayorkas Says Freeing Laken Riley’s Accused Killer into U.S. was Warranted Despite Available ICE Detention Space

Federal Docs: Joe Biden’s DHS Gave Work Permit to Laken Riley’s Accused Killer Knowing He Had Criminal Record

President Joe Biden’s Department of Homeland Security (DHS) approved a work permit for Jose Antonio Ibarra of Venezuela, who is accused of murdering 22-year-old Laken Riley, even after discovering he had a prior criminal history, according to federal documents detailed by Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO).

On February 22, Laken Riley went for a morning jog around the University of Georgia (UGA) campus in Athens, Georgia. Riley’s bludgeoned body was found later that day in a wooded area. The following day, Ibarra was arrested and charged with her murder.

During a Senate budget hearing on Thursday, Hawley read aloud the DHS file on Ibarra, which he said senators only recently obtained.

According to the documents that Hawley read, Ibarra was encountered at the United States-Mexico border near El Paso, Texas, on September 8, 2022. DHS officials cited “detention capacity,” according to Hawley, as the reason Ibarra was rewarded parole.

“You and I both know [lack of detention capacity] is not a valid reason [for parole] under the statute,” Hawley told DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. As Breitbart News previously reported, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) data shows about 8,100 available detention beds at the time Ibarra was encountered at the border. —>READ MORE HERE

Mayorkas Says Freeing Laken Riley’s Accused Killer into U.S. was Warranted Despite Available ICE Detention Space:

When Jose Antonio Ibarra of Venezuela first crossed the United States-Mexico border in September 2022 near El Paso, Texas, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) had about 8,100 detention beds available. Instead of holding Ibarra in its available detention space, ICE released him into the U.S. interior.

A year and a half later, Ibarra was arrested and charged with 22-year-old Laken Riley‘s murder in Athens, Georgia.

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, during a Senate hearing on Thursday, suggested that Ibarra’s release into the U.S. interior was justified because the agency had no reason to detain him — even as thousands of ICE detention beds were available at the time of his release.

“There was no derogatory information of which we were aware in our holdings to compel the detention of this individual,” Mayorkas told Sen. Katie Britt (R-AL), a ranking member of the Senate Appropriations Committee’s Homeland Security Subcommittee.

In a separate case unveiled this week, President Joe Biden’s DHS was found to have released 48-year-old Mohammad Kharwin of Afghanistan into the U.S. interior in March 2023. At the time of his release, ICE figures indicate there were about 7,000 detention beds available.

Kharwin was later discovered to be a member of the terrorist group Hezb-e-Islami and on the federal government’s “Terrorist Watch List.”

Experts told Breitbart News that the Biden administration has continuously sought to gut ICE detention in favor of a mass release policy at the border that even cuts out monitoring of migrants post-release.

For instance, in Biden’s latest Fiscal Year 2025 budget request, Mayorkas asks for just 34,000 ICE detention beds — a decrease from the 41,500 detention beds funded by Congress in spending packages approved last month and far below the 50,000 detention beds that the administration agreed to accept in legislation proposed by Sen. James Lankford (R-OK) and Democrats.

RJ Hauman with the National Immigration Center for Enforcement (NICE) told Breitbart News that Biden and Mayorkas only agreed to the 50,000 detention beds in the Lankford bill because the provision was “in exchange for codification of crisis levels and millions for non-governmental organizations and sanctuary jurisdictions.” —>READ MORE HERE

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