Protesters in Georgia disrupted a press conference Wednesday morning while Athens Mayor Kelly Girtz defended the city's policy aimed at limiting cooperation with federal authorities in immigration enforcement.
Tensions over such practices, sometimes referred to as “sanctuary politics,” increased last week after the suspect in Laken Riley's murder was revealed to be an undocumented immigrant from Venezuela.
Protesters called for the mayor's resignation, accusing him of being “a liar” and having “blood on his hands for this murder.” They also chanted “invasion” and “this is America.”
Protesters at Athens-Clarke County Mayor Kelly Girtz's press conference on Wednesday.Joshua L. Jones / USA Today Network
As Athens becomes more and more of a focal point for immigration policy, Girtz warned against “mixing immigration and crime.”
“The responsibility for this crime rests solely with the perpetrator,” said the mayor, a Democrat, referring to Riley's killing.
Local governments in Georgia are required by state law to certify that they cooperate with federal immigration authorities in order to receive state funds, but cities and counties can limit their law enforcement agencies' cooperation with federal immigration authorities.
Athens and Clarke County authorities said they check the criminal records of detainees and detain anyone who has a warrant out for their arrest, but said illegal immigrants are not detained if they have no criminal record.
“The mayor's commission has not taken any action that would have given Athens sanctuary city status,” Girtz said, adding that his office files documents with the Georgia State Auditor's Office each year showing that Athens is not a “sanctuary city” under state law.
Riley's body was found Thursday after a friend reported her missing when she failed to return from a morning run through wooded trails on the University of Georgia campus. The 22-year-old had graduated from UGA and studied nursing at another school. University Police Chief Jeff Clark told reporters Riley suffered “visible injuries” and died of blunt force trauma. Clark also called Riley's killing a “crime of opportunity.”
Jose Antonio Ibarra was identified the next day as a suspect in the young woman's death. Ibarra, 26, was arrested on several charges, including premeditated murder, intentional homicide, aggravated assault and covering up the death of another person. Ibarra did not attend the University of Georgia and is an undocumented immigrant from Venezuela.
Since then, some leading Republicans have used Riley's killing as evidence for a tough immigration policy, while other Democrats have said linking Riley's death to immigration and border security was a “cheap” political tactic.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice's National Institute of Justice, “recent research suggests that people are not more likely to immigrate to the United States (legally or illegally) and may actually be less likely to do so.”
Latino students and other Hispanic groups in the state have released letters condemning the killing and have spoken out against hateful rhetoric against Hispanics and immigrants. Some community organizers have removed their personal information from websites after postings that spoke of a “hunt for immigrants.”
“Latinos and immigrants in general are valuable to Georgia,” Gilda Pedraza, executive director and founder of the Latino Community Fund Georgia, told NBC News on Monday.
Her organization released a statement over the weekend outlining some of the contributions immigrants make to Georgia, including paying billions in taxes and making up a large portion of the state's workforce.
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Juliette Arcodia contributed.
