O'Reilly rips Biden, McConnell over Laken Riley death in Georgia

Riley, 22, was found dead on campus last week. In connection with her death, authorities have charged Jose Antonio Ibarra, an illegal alien flagged for removal whom the Biden administration granted parole.

Published: February 26, 2024 8:05pm

Updated: February 26, 2024 8:08pm

Bill O'Reilly on Monday excoriated President Joe Biden and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell over the former's border policies and the latter's defeat of a illegal immigration bill in the wake of the death of University of Georgia student Laken Riley.

Riley, 22, was found dead on campus last week. In connection with her death, authorities have charged Jose Antonio Ibarra, an illegal alien flagged for removal whom the Biden administration granted parole.

"[Y]ou've got to be careful exploiting the depth of Laken Riley, just as I was very careful with Kate Steinle 10 years ago, who was killed by a migrant who had violated deportation five times," O'Reilly said on the "Just the News, No Noise" television show. "We almost had it passed, Kate's Law, which would have made it possible for the federal authorities to incarcerate someone, anyone who comes back to this country after being deported, for a minimum of five years. Second offense, 10 years, that would have stopped a lot of this madness that we have."

"But Mitch McConnell killed that bill, single-handedly, even though most of the Republican senators were behind it, and I don't think the Democrats at that point would have opposed it," he added. "Now we have a situation where you have catch and release, this man from Venezuela came across [in] 2022, didn't ask for asylum, just snuck across, they caught him. And they let him go."

"And that's the Biden policy: catch and release. So if you've got 10 million foreign nationals coming into the country, 10% of those are evil people because 10% of every group is evil," O'Reilly went on. "Alright, no matter what the group is one out of 10 are gonna do bad things... So now we have these people roaming around."

"Does [Biden] care about this young woman who's now dead? No. And he doesn't care about all the other people have been hurt by his open border policy. He doesn't care. That's the theme that should be emphasized around the country," he contended.

The White House on Monday issued a statement to Fox News on Riley's death, stating "[w]e would like to extend our deepest condolences to the family and loved ones of Laken Hope Riley. People should be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law if they are found to be guilty. Given this is an active case, we would have to refer you to state law enforcement and ICE."

Ben Whedon is an editor and reporter for Just the News. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter.

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