Will Immigration Law Change After the Murder of Laken Riley?

José Ibarra's guilty verdict for the murder of Laken Riley has stoked anti-immigrant sentiments and raised questions about whether those who entered the country illegally and have a history of minor crimes should be allowed to wait for the resolution of their immigration case in freedom.

Laken Riley was found dead in a park near the University of Georgia. A 22-year-old student, she was studying to be a nurse.

The cause of death was asphyxiation and trauma due to use of force. Prosecutors also used physical, video, and digital evidence to show that there was an attempted rape prior to the murder.

The culprit was José Ibarra, a Venezuelan immigrant who entered the United States illegally and had a record of minor crimes.

He was found guilty on all charges. These were:

• Malice murder (committed murder with malice aforethought, also known as first degree murder)
• 3 counts of felony murder (murder while in the act of committing a felony)
• Kidnapping with bodily injury
• Aggravated battery
• Aggravated assault with attempted rape
• False imprisonment (restriction of movement, considered a separate charge from kidnapping)
• Interfering with evidence (he threw a jacket with the victim's blood and hair on it, this was key because a camera detected him doing it and a neighbor recognized him)
• Abandonment of a dead body (he disposed of the corpse)
• Obstructing an emergency call (cut off the call when Riley called 911)
• Peeping Tom (Ibarra spied on students)

Riley's murder has generated a lot of concern among many Americans over border security. It's also raised questions about what happens to undocumented immigrants who may be accused of minor crimes.

What Happens to Undocumented Immigrants In Custody for Minor Crimes?

It is important to clarify that there are two substantially different situations where an undocumented immigrant may be placed in custody: one is when an immigrant with illegal status commits a crime and police capture them. Another is when the crime is merely the illegal status and the person remains in the custody of ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement).

If the person is in police custody because they are believed to have committed a crime, the decision on whether they can remain free while their case is decided will depend on several factors such as the seriousness of the crime they are believed to have committed, the possibility of paying eventual bail imposed, if the person would represent a danger to the community if released or if it is believed that he or she could flee.

If local, state or federal police believe that the detainee is an undocumented immigrant, the agency could contact ICE, although this varies by agency, and some do not usually do so. ICE could also contact local police and request a detention order, known as a “detainer.” With this order, ICE requests that the person be detained for an additional 48 hours so that they can take custody of the detainee.

In Ibarra's Case

In Ibarra's case, he had been detained in New York for a case of theft (he also had another record for theft and driving violation) but ICE said that it lost the opportunity to take Ibarra into custody because he was released by the New York police before they were able to issue an arrest warrant.

The case fueled the already popular dilemma over border security. In response, Senator Katie Boyd (R-Alabama) presented the Laken Riley Act in Congress. Under this law, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) must detain individuals who are illegally present in the country or do not have the necessary documents when requesting admission and who were accused, arrested, convicted or have admitted to crimes of theft or heist.

Defenders of this law say it will help prevent crimes like Riley's. Its detractors claim that the law could dangerously detain people accused of minor crimes on a mere accusation, without a conviction, and even if they have temporary permission to remain in the country even if they entered illegally.

How Many Immigrants With Criminal Records Are There In the US?

The majority of undocumented immigrants are made up of citizens of Mexico, El Salvador, India, Guatemala and Honduras. How many of these have criminal records? ICE issued a statement in July of this year noting that 425,431 noncitizens have criminal convictions and are not in ICE custody, although they are in deportation proceedings. Still, many are incarcerated by local, state or federal agencies. Of this number, there are:

• 13,099 with homicide convictions
• 15,811 with convictions for sexual crimes
• 62,231 with convictions for violent crimes

The number of people with a history of drugs or violent crimes among undocumented immigrants is less than half that among Americans. These statistics take on greater importance given the recent statements by President-elect Donald Trump's plan to deport people with criminal records first.

Why Didn't He Receive the Death Penalty?

Ibarra received a sentence of life imprisonment without parole. The sentence imposed is the most serious in the United States after the death penalty. Georgia is one of the 27 states in which the death penalty exists, and executions are not on pause as is currently the case in some states. However, prosecutors did not seek the death penalty in Ibarra's case. Questioned about this, district attorney Deborah González explained that she does not support the death penalty and therefore requested the maximum possible sentence after death.

Furthermore, the prosecutor had the support of the deceased's family to choose to request a life sentence instead of the death penalty. In the words of the victim's mother when petitioning the judge: “I am asking you to please give this monster life in prison without the possibility of parole so that he does not have the opportunity to hurt anyone else, ever again.”

Many criticized the prosecutor's "soft" response and are calling for the sentence to be reconsidered to grant the death penalty. In response to the criticism, González emphasized that he had the support of the family in his decision and that his priority was to obtain justice, even though he knew that others were going to exploit the case for political reasons.

Previously, González had referred to the death penalty as representing “the worst of us, revenge and cruelty, without doing anything to deter crime or make our community safer.”

Where Does a Foreigner Who Commits a Crime in the US Serve His Sentence?

As a general rule, if a foreigner commits a crime in the United States, the penalties dictated by the laws of this country will be imposed and they will serve his sentence here. For an immigrant, depending on the severity of the crime, it is highly likely that deportation will be added to the standard penalty that any American would face. In any case, a criminal matter warrants seeking assistance in immigration matters due to the danger of deportation posed if the accused is an immigrant, whether or not he or she has legal residence.

In Ibarra's case, deportation would have been certain upon completion of his sentence, if it had had a specific term. However, his sentence is life imprisonment without the possibility of parole, so he will spend the rest of his life in a prison on American soil.

Note: This blog originally appeared on abogado.com. Read the Spanish version.

Related Resources:

• Former President Donald Trump’s Alien Enemies Act Immigration Plan: Can He Do It? (FindLaw's Federal Courts)
• After Mistrial of Arizona Man Who Shot a Mexican Migrant, Judge Says No Retrial Will Be Allowed (FindLaw's Courtside)
• Federal Court Invalidates Parole in Place for Undocumented Spouses and Stepchildren of U.S. Citizens (FindLaw's Federal Courts)