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As a female marathoner, I prioritize high-quality running gear, including emergency protective equipment like pepper spray designed for runners. Laken Riley, a prep runner and Augusta University student, was killed by an illegal immigrant while jogging near the university’s campus late last week.
While mainstream news outlets dance around the facts of the case, influencers active online are focusing on raising awareness about women’s safety. But the truth is that this travesty highlights an even bigger problem facing our country.
Lack of border security continues to cost American lives.
Jose Ibarra, an undocumented immigrant, lived within a five-minute walk of the scene where he allegedly killed 22-year-old nursing student Laken Riley on February 22nd. (Mark Sims for Fox News Digital/Laken Riley/Jose Ibarra)
The growing list of citizens killed by illegal immigrants highlights the broader impact of our nation’s embarrassing and dangerous southern border policies. An estimated 7.2 million illegal immigrants have crossed the southern border since President Biden took office in 2021. This is equivalent to the population of the entire state of Arizona, and approximately 3.5 times the number of people living in New Mexico.
Laken Riley’s death in Georgia raises big unanswered questions.here are 10
December 2023 marked the highest number of encounters on the southern border on record. Although mainstream news pundits have recently touted a sharp decline in border crossings, last month still featured the highest number of border encounters ever recorded in January.
Even more concerning is that record numbers of these migrants are also coming from China. In the past four months alone, Border Patrol has recorded more Chinese immigrants apprehended than in all of 2007 to 2020. Combined.
These statistics are terrible, yet those of us who raise awareness about this issue must do more than simply tell the facts about the border crisis. Statistics alone cannot adequately convey the urgency of our national security deficit. Commentators, influencers, policy makers, and even runners must name these victims and tell their stories in order to bring about real change.
What we saw at the border and what we hope Biden understands when he visits this week
While it’s true that evil people always find ways to commit evil acts, this particular crime against Laken Riley could have been stopped by immigration law enforcement.
Border security is one of the few responsibilities specific to the central government. After all, the government is established to protect its citizens, and yet this is the duty the federal government is least fulfilling.
With border enforcement almost non-existent, states have taken to enforcing their own borders to protect their citizens. However, this is not a task that the state can manage alone. It is up to the President and Congress to fulfill this duty.
Biden is embroiled in border battle and can’t win
Congress has repeatedly failed to enact significant immigration reform. But as November approaches, members of Congress have an ultimate responsibility to our people. Perhaps Congress needs to feel a sense of urgency from voters to push for major border and immigration reform. There are many distracting wars abroad, wars that demand our attention, but there will be more and more emergencies at home if we do not protect our sovereign borders.
Governors in red-leaning states are scoring political points by sending immigrants to sanctuary cities across the country, including the town of Athens, Georgia, where Laken Riley was murdered. These political maneuvers have given the migrant crisis the attention it needs, but if the president and Congress refuse to act, perhaps governors could send migrants back to their home countries themselves.
If we could transport buses full of homeless immigrants across the United States, we could certainly turn them around and send them back across the Mexican border.
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In general, the left is better at storytelling than the right. Conservatives are known for valuing facts over emotion. But in this case, we must continue to tell the stories of the women unjustly killed by illegal immigrants: Lisbeth Medina, Kate Steinle, Molly Tibbetts, Laken Riley, to name a few. .
Conservatives must bring about change by speaking the truth, putting their names forward, posting photos, and telling their stories in order for change to actually bear fruit.
While we are grateful that the running community, regardless of political affiliation, agrees that women should be protected while playing this sport we love, border policies are If we continue to encourage easy entry into the country, no matter how much protective gear we wear, we will not be able to keep women safe. America.
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In raising awareness, we must not miss the point of this story. That is, an innocent and well-prepared runner was murdered by an illegal immigrant. Her death was completely avoidable and the blame can be placed squarely on our elected leaders who shirked their primary responsibility to protect the public.
November is coming. Let’s do our part to not only raise awareness of runner safety, but also to pressure our elected leaders to do their jobs and protect our people by policing America’s borders.
Click here to read more from Juliana Sweeney
