José Antonio Ibarra, the man charged with the murder of a nursing student on the University of Georgia campus, emigrated from Venezuela, was arrested when he illegally crossed the border near El Paso, Texas, in September 2022 and detoured toward New York.
In addition to the border arrest, he was cited for two nonviolent crimes before Laken Riley, a 22-year-old nursing student at Augusta University, was killed by apparent blows to the head last Thursday on a University running track. from Georgia.
Ibarra, 26, lived in a modest apartment complex filled with immigrants from around the world who worked in poultry plants, fast-food restaurants and construction jobs in and around Athens, Georgia.
His nomadic life was somewhat of a family trip until he became widely unknown: when he was charged last Friday with Riley’s murder and thrown into the raging currents of the nation’s bitter divisions over immigration.
He now faces charges of murder, aggravated assault, false imprisonment, hindering a 911 call and concealing the death of another person. Clarke County Coroner Sonny Wilson said in preliminary findings that the cause of Ms. Riley’s death was blunt force trauma to her head. Full autopsy results may not be available for several weeks.
When Ibarra was arrested after crossing the border, he was quickly released with temporary permission to remain in the country, according to federal officials.
That release, or parole, was a practice the Biden administration used when officials were overwhelmed by large numbers of crossings. That practice ended about six months later.
It was typical that many Venezuelans were released with permission to stay temporarily because they could not be repatriated to their country due to tense diplomatic relations between the United States and Venezuela. Some six million Venezuelans have fled their troubled country, the largest population displacement in modern Latin American history.
Ibarra then went to New York City, where he had a minor run-in with authorities. In August he was arrested after driving a scooter without a license and with a child who was not wearing a helmet.
He was not prosecuted or imprisoned. Records in the case are sealed and it was unclear whether he instead received a citation or ticket for a traffic violation.
She eventually moved to an apartment complex in Athens, Georgia, that was a short distance from where Ms. Riley’s body was found, but that seems worlds away from the residents there.
The apartment complex has a diverse community of working-class immigrants, of various Latin and Asian origins: Venezuelan, but also Chinese and Indian.
Residents in the area have said they are concerned about how this case will affect their undocumented neighbors.
A resident of the apartment complex said Ibarra’s brother, Diego Ibarra, 29, had moved there around May. Diego was hired as a dishwasher at the University of Georgia in early February before being fired after submitting a false green card and failing to submit further documentation, according to a university spokesperson.
Diego Ibarra was charged with possession of a fraudulent green card and has been arrested three times by Athens police, including for driving under the influence. He is scheduled to appear in court in March.
While in Georgia, the Ibarra brothers were arrested in October in connection with a theft case at a local Walmart. Officials checked Jose Ibarra’s name in state and national databases at the time, but found no warrant for him or any other indication that he should be detained.
Mr. Ibarra was denied bail at a hearing Saturday and remained in jail, authorities said.
The district attorney has appointed a special prosecutor for the case, and it has become a heated political battleground as some conservative politicians have focused on Ibarra’s immigration status. On Wednesday, protesters expressed anger at the liberal immigration policies championed by Kelly Girtz, a Democrat and mayor of Athens-Clarke County. For example, she called for ending the practice of holding arrested immigrants in jail for 48-hour periods, which gives federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials the opportunity to detain them for possible deportation.
At a news conference Wednesday, Police Chief Jerry Saulters declined to provide further details about the case, citing the ongoing prosecution. The investigation is under the jurisdiction of the University of Georgia police.
Eileen Sullivan and Ernesto Londono contributed with reports. Kirsten Noyes contributed to the research.