Battenfeld: Fear factor over illegal immigration now driving election
The fear factor over crime and illegal immigration is ramping up with the murder of a nursing student in Georgia, igniting a political firestorm that is putting Democrats and Joe Biden on the defensive.
Biden is actually planning to stop at the Mexico border on Thursday – an eleventh-hour acknowledgment that his porous immigration policies have severely damaged his re-election hopes.
The Democratic president will travel to Brownsville, Texas the same day President Trump will be a few hundred miles away at Eagle Pass – a border duel that underscores how illegal immigration is now driving this election.
Biden will be there primarily to criticize and spotlight Republican efforts to defeat immigration legislation, but it comes after the damage has already been done to his campaign.
A new poll by Monmouth University Monday showed a majority of Americans now support building a border wall – a turnaround from when Trump was president.
“(Biden) has had three years to visit the border and fix the crisis he created,” Trump spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said. “Biden’s last-minute, insincere attempt to chase President Trump to the border won’t cut it.”
Whether it’s the murder of nursing student Laken Riley or the viral video of migrants kicking New York City police, the narrative is building that migrants flooding into the country are creating a public safety issue, confirming the worst fears of Democrats.
Jose Antonio Ibarra, an illegal immigrant from Venezuela, allegedly killed Riley while she was on a running trail on the University of Georgia campus in Athens. Ibarra was arrested in New York City several months ago for endangering a five-year-old.
But initial reports from the Associated Press and some other media outlets never mentioned Ibarra’s immigration status, calling him an “Athens man.” Even politicians, at least Democrats, have been largely silent on the murder.
Worse yet, the AP said the killing of Riley “highlights the fears of women athletes” – not the fears of those worried about the government failing to protect its citizens from criminal immigrants.
In another sign that the issue of illegal immigration is heating up, the Massachusetts State Police on Monday put out a press release highlighting the illegal status of a wanted murderer and gang member caught driving without a license on Massachusetts roads.
“A Massachusetts State Police trooper pulled over a minivan on Interstate 95 in Canton for motor vehicle violations on the night of Feb 18, 2024 and upon querying the driver, determined that the man had entered the United States illegally, had affiliations with the MS-13 violent criminal gang, and was wanted for homicide in his home country of El Salvador,” the release said. “After MSP Troopers arrested and booked the man, identified as Wilmer A. Garcia-Manzanares, 44, they released him to the custody of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).”
The MSP even put out a mug shot of the suspect.
It’s these kinds of arrests that are catching the attention of voters and why illegal immigration could be the top issue of 2024.
Even Joe Biden now seems to be understanding that.
This undated image provided by Augusta University shows Laken Hope Riley, killed while out jogging. (Augusta University via AP)
This photo, provided by the Clarke County Sheriff’s Office, shows Jose Ibarra, 26, on Friday. Ibarra was arrested on charges that included murder and kidnapping in the death of 22-year-old nursing student Laken Hope Riley in Athens, Ga. (Clarke County Sheriff’s Office via AP)