Jose Antonio Ibarra, the man accused of killing a nursing student on the University of Georgia campus who immigrated from Venezuela, was arrested when he illegally crossed the border near El Paso, Texas, in September 2022 and detoured into New York.
In addition to the arrest at the border, he was cited for two nonviolent offenses before Laken Riley, a 22-year-old nursing student at Augusta University, was killed from apparent blows to the head last Thursday on a University of Georgia running track.
Mr. Ibarra, 26, lived in a modest apartment complex filled with immigrants from around the world who worked at poultry farms, fast food restaurants and construction jobs in and around Athens, Ga.
His nomadic life was somehow a familiar journey until it became very unfamiliar – when he was charged last Friday with Ms Reilly’s murder and plunged into the raging currents of the nation’s bitter divisions over immigration.
He now faces charges of murder, aggravated assault, false imprisonment, obstructing a 911 call and concealing the death of another person. Clarke County Coroner Sonny Wilson said in preliminary findings that Ms. Riley’s cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head. Full autopsy results may not be available for several more weeks.
When Mr. Ibarra was arrested after crossing the border, he was quickly released with temporary permission to remain in the country, according to federal officials.
This release, or parole, was a practice used by the Biden administration when officials were overwhelmed by high numbers of crossings. He ended that practice about six months later.
It was typical for many Venezuelans to be released on leave to remain temporarily because they could not be repatriated back to their country due to strained diplomatic relations between the United States and Venezuela. About six million Venezuelans have fled their troubled country, the largest population movement in modern Latin American history.
Mr. Ibarra then went to New York, where he had a minor brush with law enforcement. In August, he was arrested for 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 if a summons or fine was issued for a motor vehicle violation instead.
He eventually moved to an apartment complex in Athens, Ga., which was within walking distance of where Ms. Riley’s body was found, but appears to be far from the residents there.
The apartment complex has a diverse community of working-class immigrants, from a range of Latinos and Asians – Venezuelans, but also Chinese and Indians.
Local residents said they are concerned about how this case will affect their undocumented neighbors.
A resident of the apartment complex said Mr. Ibarra’s brother, Diego Ibarra, 29, had moved in around May. Diego was hired as a dishwasher at the University of Georgia in early February before being fired after presenting a fake green card and failing to provide further documentation, according to a university spokesperson.
Diego Ibarra was accused of possessing a fraudulent green card and has been arrested three times by the Athens police, including for driving under the influence. He is due 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 ran Jose Ibarra’s name through 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, the authorities said.
The district attorney appointed a special prosecutor to the case, and it has become an intense political battleground, as some conservative politicians have zeroed in on Mr. Ibarra’s immigration status. On Wednesday, protesters expressed their anger at liberal immigration policies championed by Athens-Clarke County Mayor Kelly Girtz, a Democrat. For example, he called for an end to the practice of holding arrested immigrants in jail for 48-hour periods, which gives federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents a chance to pick them up for possible deportation.
At a news conference Wednesday, Police Chief Jerry Salters 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 London contributed to the report. Kirsten Noyes contributed to the research.
