By United States Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana
WASHINGTON (Feb. 27, 2024) – Senator John Kennedy (R-La), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, today joined all other Republican members of the Judiciary Committee in demanding answers from Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas about why Venezuelan national Jose Antonio Ibarra was paroled into the U.S.
Ibarra is the suspect in the murder of Augusta University student Laken Riley.
“We are deeply saddened by this senseless and preventable act of violence, and we write today demanding answers about how Ibarra was allowed to enter and remain in the United States,” the senators wrote.
“Under section 212(d)(5) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, immigration parole should only be granted on a case-by-case basis, and only if there is an urgent humanitarian reason or significant public benefit justifying a grant of parole,” they continued.
The senators also highlighted that they previously raised concerns about DHS’s ability to make hundreds of thousands of case-by-case determinations for parole each year. Under sworn testimony on Nov. 8, 2023, before the committee, Mayorkas stated that the department did, in fact, determine parole on a case-by-case basis.
“We demand that you show us your work. No later than March 8th, please provide us with a copy of the case file for Jose Antonio Ibarra, including the record showing what urgent humanitarian reason or significant public benefit justified the decision to grant him parole,” the senators concluded.
The full letter is available here.
