Sen. Roger Marshall (R-KS) says the refusal to testify publicly to Congress by Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Christopher Wray is a slap in the face to Laken Riley’s family. Riley’s killer, an illegal alien gang member released into the United States, was convicted on Wednesday.
As Breitbart News reported, just hours before Mayorkas and Wray were supposed to testify before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, their offices announced they would not be attending the hearing.
Marshall, a member of the committee, said their refusal to testify is disrespectful to Angel Families who have lost loved ones to illegal immigration.
“This is a slap in the face to the families of Laken Riley, Rachel Morin, and 12-year-old Jocelyn Nungaray, whose lives have been shattered by their sheer incompetence and inability to do their most basic job: Secure our homeland,” Marshall said.
“They must be subpoenaed and held in contempt,” he said.
Jose Antonio Ibarra, a Venezuelan illegal alien member of the Tren de Aragua gang, was convicted on all counts of brutally murdering Laken Riley in February of this year on the University of Georgia (UGA) campus in Athens, Georgia.
Ibarra was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
The day Ibarra murdered Riley, she went for a jog on a route she ran often without any prior incident. Riley was an avid runner and nursing school student at Augusta University.
When Riley did not return after her jog, her roommates searched for her and called UGA police. Riley’s body was discovered bludgeoned in a wooded area on the UGA campus. The following day, Ibarra was arrested and charged with Riley’s murder.
Ibarra crossed the U.S.-Mexico border near El Paso, Texas, on Sept. 8, 2022. Biden and Harris’s DHS released Ibarra into the U.S. interior with parole.
During a Senate hearing in April, Mayorkas justified Ibarra’s release into the U.S. interior, claiming there was a lack of available detention space – even as more than 8,000 detention beds were available at the time.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas is sworn in before the House Committee on Homeland Security during a hearing on “A Review of the Fiscal Year 2025 Budget Request for the Department of Homeland Security” on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, April 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
The same month he was released into the U.S., Ibarra ended up in the sanctuary city of New York, New York, where he requested a “humanitarian flight” to Georgia.
In November 2023, just a couple of months before Riley’s murder, Ibarra applied for an Employment Authorization Document (EAD) with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).
On Dec. 9, 2023, Ibarra’s work permit application was approved.
In July 2023, before securing a work permit, Ibarra reported to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in New York City for a biometric appointment where he was fingerprinted. The results of those fingerprints show Ibarra had a prior criminal history.
On Sept. 14, 2023, Ibarra was arrested for acting in a manner that could injure a child. Despite the charge, Ibarra was not prosecuted, and the arrest was expunged.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at jbinder@breitbart.com. Follow him on Twitter here.