(NewsNation) — The father of Laken Riley, a nursing student killed while on a run by the University of Georgia’s campus, told NBC News he fears her death is being exploited as a political wedge in an interview.
Jason Riley called his 22-year-old daughter, who had studied at Augusta University’s nursing college, a “strong person” who excelled in academics in an interview that aired Monday on the “TODAY” show.
It was the first time he has spoken to the media since his daughter was killed.
“I wish I would have been there to protect her,” Jason Riley said. “I wish it would have been me.”
Police arrested Jose Ibarra, 26, in connection to Riley’s death. Ibarra is a Venezuelan citizen who authorities say entered the United States illegally two years ago, a fact that lawmakers have seized on. GOP Congress members have used Ibarra’s immigration status to criticize the Biden Administration’s border policies, and proposed legislation named after Laken Riley that requires the arrest of anyone in the country illegally for any larceny, burglary or shoplifting offense.
“I’d rather her not be such a political, how you say — it started a storm in our country,” Jason Riley said on NBC, “and it’s incited a lot of people.”
Because of this, Jason Riley added, “there’s people on both sides that have lashed out at our families.”
Politicians and media outlets have used Laken Riley’s death to bolster false claims of a “migrant crime wave” even though experts and statistics consistently show there is no evidence of one happening. In fact, multiple studies, such as one published by the National Academy of Sciences based on Texas Department of Public Safety data, found U.S. citizens are more than twice as likely to be arrested for violent crimes than people in the country illegally.
The politicization of Laken Riley’s death, though, has continued, even carrying into Biden’s State of the Union speech earlier this month. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green, a Georgia Republican, as Biden spoke, yelled at the president to “Say her name,” referring to Laken Riley.
In response, Biden held up a white button that said “Laken Riley,” although he mispronounced her name, drawing criticism from Republicans. He received backlash from immigration advocates as well after saying Laken Riley was an “innocent young woman who was killed by an illegal.” Biden later said in an MSNBC interview he regretted using that word.
“I think it’s being used politically to get those votes,” Jason Riley said to NBC about the speech. “It makes me angry. I feel like, you know, they’re just using my daughter’s name for that. And she was much better than that, and she should be raised up for the person that she is. She was an angel.”
While Jason Riley, who supports former President Donald Trump, said he prefers his daughter’s death “not be so political,” he added that it has led to necessary discussions about securing the southern border.
Still, he said, he wants to think about how others remembered Laken Riley, as opposed to the political context it’s currently being brought up in. Hundreds of people paid their respects at Laken Riley’s funeral, saying she was “one of the brightest lights that has ever been,” with her obituary describing her as an “amazing daughter, sister, friend and overall extraordinary person.”
Jason Riley said in the NBC interview that Laken had wanted to work at a children’s hospital after graduating from Augusta.
“She was only 22. She had a lot of life left to give to the world,” Jason Riley said to NBC. “…If everybody could live like Laken it would make the world a better place.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
