Southeast
Laken Riley murder trial: Witnesses describe jacket found in dumpster, cup with alcohol smell
WARNING: GRAPHIC
ATHENS, Ga. – Jose Ibarra, the suspect charged in Augusta University student Laken Riley’s February murder on the University of Georgia campus, appeared in court Friday for the start of his trial.
Ibarra, a 26-year-old illegal immigrant from Venezuela, allegedly attacked and killed Riley, a 22-year-old nursing student, while she was jogging along trails near Lake Herrick on UGA’s campus the morning of Feb. 22.
Two security guards escorted Ibarra into the Athens-Clarke County courtroom around 7:30 a.m. Friday, about an hour and a half before the start of the trial at 9 a.m., wearing a blue plaid shirt and gray dress pants with shackles around his wrists.
Just before the start of the trial, approximately 20 members of Riley’s family entered the courtroom wearing solemn expressions.
WATCH: Hear Laken Riley’s 911 phone call played in courtroom
“[H]e went hunting for females on the University of Georgia campus.”
“On Feb. 22, Jose Ibarra put on a black hat, a hoodie-style jacket, and some black kitchen-style disposable gloves, and he went hunting for females on the University of Georgia campus,” prosecutor Sheila Ross said in her opening statement Friday. Riley’s sister teared up upon hearing Ross’ first statements.
Jose Ibarra, accused of killing a Georgia nursing student earlier this year, listens through an interpreter as he sits with his attorney Dustin Kirby left, during his trial at Athens-Clarke County Superior Court, Friday, Nov. 15, 2024, in Athens, Ga. (Hyosub Shin/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP, Pool)
Ross said Ibarra then encountered Riley on her typical morning run and attacked her.
“When Laken Riley refused to be his rape victim, he bashed her head in with a rock repeatedly,” Ross said.
Prosecutor Sheila Ross speaks in front of Superior Court Judge H. Patrick Haggard during a trial of Jose Ibarra, accused of killing a Georgia nursing student earlier this year, at Athens-Clarke County Superior Court, Friday, Nov. 15, 2024, in Athens, Ga. (Hyosub Shin/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP, Pool)
The suspect is charged with 10 counts total, including one count of malice murder, three counts of felony murder, one count of kidnapping, one count of aggravated assault with intent to rape, one count of aggravated battery, one count of hindering a 911 call, one count of tampering with evidence and one count of being a “peeping Tom.” Ibarra has pleaded not guilty to all counts.
ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT CHARGED IN LAKEN RILEY MURDER ‘FAST-TRACKING’ TO LIFE IN PRISON: ATTORNEY
Laken Riley poses for a photo posted to Facebook. Riley, a nursing student at the University of Georgia, was found dead near a lake on campus on Thursday, February 22, 2024. (Allyson Phillips/Facebook)
On Tuesday, Judge Patrick Haggard granted Ibarra’s request for a bench trial over a jury trial, meaning evidence will be presented in court only to Haggard rather than before a selected jury.
Ibarra and his brothers, also in the United States illegally from Venezuela, lived in an apartment building less than a half mile from the on-campus park where Riley was running.
Jose Ibarra, accused of killing a Georgia nursing student earlier this year, listens through an interpreter during his trial at Athens-Clarke County Superior Court, Friday, Nov. 15, 2024, in Athens, Ga. (Hyosub Shin/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP, Pool)
The defendant’s attorney, Dustin Kirby, argued in his opening statement that evidence would not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Ibarra killed Riley. He said it would take “gymnastics” for the prosecution to argue that Ibarra killed Riley with what he described as “circumstantial evidence.”
“[T]here should not be enough evidence to convince you beyond a reasonable doubt that Mr. Ibarra is guilty of the crimes charged.”
Prosecutor Sheila Ross holds clothing Laken Riley wore as GBI Crime Scene Specialist Daniella Stuart, right, testifies on the witness stand during the trial of Jose Ibarra, accused of killing a Georgia nursing student earlier this year, at Athens-Clarke County Superior Court, Friday, Nov. 15, 2024, in Athens. (Hyosub Shin/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP, Pool)
“We waived a jury trial in this case, with the hope and trust that despite the nature of this evidence that you could come to a verdict that was not just a way of of easing this family’s suffering, but it was based on an impartial and honest assessment of the evidence in this case,” he said. “If that happens, and the presumption of innocence is respected, there should not be enough evidence to convince you beyond a reasonable doubt that Mr. Ibarra is guilty of the crimes charged.”
LAKEN RILEY MURDER: ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT SUSPECT IN GEORGIA COLLEGE STUDENT SLAYING ASKS TO HIDE CERTAIN EVIDENCE
Laken Riley smiles for a photo while running. Riley, a nursing student at the University of Georgia, was found dead near a lake on campus on Feb. 22, 2024. (Laken Riley/Instagram)
Ibarra allegedly murdered the aspiring nurse in what UGA Police Chief Jeffrey Clark described as a “crime of opportunity.”
Riley left home for her morning run at 9:03 a.m. on the morning of Feb. 22. By 9:11 a.m., Ross said, Riley called 911, which dispatch answered, but there was no response from Riley.
The 911 call was played aloud in court Friday. The call was mostly silent, with a dispatch operator saying, “Clarke County 911, can anyone hear me?” but no voices could be heard responding. The only sounds over the course of the seconds-long call were birds chirping and a quiet noise toward the end of the call.
A memorial for Laken Riley is seen along Lake Herrick on the University of Georgia’s campus in Athens, Georgia, on Saturday, February 24, 2024. Riley, a 22-year-old nursing student, was found dead on a nearby trail earlier this week. (Mark Sims for Fox News Digital)
Riley’s roommates noticed she had not returned from her run, and they went to search for her around at 11:31 a.m. At 11:46, they found one of Riley’s AirPods on the ground near her usual running path and her last known location, which they knew by using the “Find My Friends” iPhone app.
Riley’s roommate, Sofia Magana, testified that she had taken a photo of the area where she picked up Riley’s AirPod when she and their other roommate, Lilly Steiner, went out to look for her along the trails near her last known location on the morning of Feb. 22. The two students reported her missing to UGA campus police shortly after noon that day.
Jose Ibarra was arrested on Feb. 23 in connection with Laken Riley’s Feb. 22 murder in Athens, Georgia. (Clarke County Sheriff’s Office)
The prosecution played the call aloud in court while hearing testimony from Riley’s roommate, Lilly Steiner.
“Our roommate went out for a run at 9 . . . and we haven’t heard from her,” Steiner can be heard saying during the call. “We went to where her last known location was, and all we found is an AirPod.”
Athens-Clarke County police officer Zachary Davis points out the jacket he collected from a dumpster on photograph as he testifies on the witness stand during a trial of Jose Ibarra, accused of killing a Georgia nursing student earlier this year, at Athens-Clarke County Superior Court, Friday, Nov. 15, 2024, in Athens, Ga. (Hyosub Shin/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP, Pool)
At 12:37, UGA PD Sgt. Kenneth Maxwell found Laken unconscious and not breathing. She was partially naked and covered in leaves. Authorities also noticed severe injuries to the side of her head, and prosecutors believe Riley’s body had been moved after her death; investigators located her body in a wooded area approximately 50 feet from the main running trail.
WATCH: UGA POLICE BODYCAM PLAYED DURING TRIAL
Maxwell’s police bodycam footage from the moment he found Riley’s body was played in court, and Judge Haggard gave those present in the courtroom the opportunity to leave. Riley’s mother departed the courtroom while her stepfather, father and sister remained seated.
The footage showed Sgt. Maxwell locating Riley, whose head was covered in leaves, and attempting to perform CPR on her. Maxwell says in the bodycam video that it appeared as through Riley had been attacked. Multiple members of Riley’s family cried quietly in court as the footage was played, as Ibarra repeatedly looked at and away from the video.
“At that point, I suspected this wasn’t an accident, based on the circumstances,” Maxwell testified.
Allyson Phillips, left, mother of Laken Riley, cries as John Phillips, stepfather of Laken Riley, comforts her during Ibarra’s trial at Athens-Clarke County Superior Court, Friday, Nov. 15, 2024, in Athens, Ga. (Hyosub Shin/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP, Pool)
Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) Special Agent Daniella Stuart, the state’s sixth witness on Friday, said she had analyzed and photographed the crime scene around 2 p.m. on Feb. 22. The graphic photographs displayed in court showed Riley’s injured torso and head. Riley’s family was not present in the courtroom during Stuart’s testimony.
“Some kind of significant disturbance happened in that area,” Stuart testified while describing blood stains and hair on a rock near the area where officials had discovered Riley’s body.
The special agent confirmed that she had observed a latent print on the bottom of Riley’s iPhone, near the area where someone would hang up a call using their finger.
Jose Ibarra, accused of killing a Georgia nursing student earlier this year, listens through an interpreter as he sits with his attorneys Dustin Kirby, second left, and Kaitlyn Beck, left, during his trial at Athens-Clarke County Superior Court, Friday, Nov. 15, 2024, in Athens, Ga. (Hyosub Shin/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP, Pool)
Investigators with the Athens-Clarke County Police Department, UGA and the FBI immediately began searching for suspects. On the evening of Feb. 22, investigators with all involved entities went “dumpster diving” around the area where RIley had been killed, searching for evidence, Ross said.
The prosecutor described their findings that night as “a combination of good police work and luck.”
At a dumpster near the apartment complex where Ibarra lived, an officer found a “suspicious” dark sweatshirt with hair and blood on it. Authorities immediately submitted the sweatshirt to a lab for testing.
Officer Zachary Davis, the state’s seventh witness to testify Friday, said he had been checking dumpsters at apartment complexes around the UGA trails where Riley had been found. In one dumpster, he noticed the dark sweatshirt and then physically went into the dumpster, which had been labeled as strictly for recyclable items, to get a better look at the article just before 10 p.m. on Feb. 22. Davis’ police-worn bodycam footage shows him locating the item and putting it in an evidence bag.
Jose Ibarra appears in court for a pretrial evidence hearing in Athens, Ga., on Nov. 1, 2024. (Robin Rayne for Fox News Digital)
“There’s hair on the buttons, ripped up sleeves,” Davis can be heard telling his fellow officers. He can then be heard asking them, “Was she a brunette?”
An apartment nearby had a doorbell video camera with a view of the dumpster, and around 9:40 a.m. on Feb. 22, the camera captured a man disposing of something in the dumpster. A woman living in Ibarra’s apartment, Rosbeli Flores-Bello, would later identify the man in the video as Ibarra.
Investigators would later test the recovered jacket for DNA evidence and find a combination of both Jose Ibarra’s and Riley’s DNA on the items.
Investigators would also find Ibarra’s DNA beneath Riley’s fingernails, Ross said. The suspect had bruising and scratches throughout his body at the time of his arrest, according to Ross and Special Agent Stuart, who photographed his injuries.
Superior Court Judge H. Patrick Haggard listens during a trial of Jose Ibarra, accused of killing a Georgia nursing student earlier this year, at Athens-Clarke County Superior Court, Friday, Nov. 15, 2024, in Athens, Ga.
The peeping Tom charge stems from another Feb. 22 incident in which the suspect allegedly went to a residence on UGA’s campus in Athens and “peeped through” a window and “spied upon” a university staff member, according to the indictment.
Ross said a male individual had been captured on video camera footage trying to open a UGA graduate student’s door around 7 a.m. on the same morning that Riley was killed. Evidence showed that the individual haad gone to the student’s door “six times” and peeped through the student’s open windows, Ross said in her opening statement. The student called 911 at 7:57 a.m. that morning and reported hearing someone trying to “break into” her apartment.
Jose Ibarra appears in court for a pre-trial evidence hearing in Athens, Georgia on Friday, November 1, 2024. Ibarra is on trial for the death of University of Georgia student Laken Riley in February. (Robin Rayne for Fox News Digital)
Prior to the peeping Tom incident, an individual matching the suspect’s description appeared on surveillance video footage holding a white cup, Ross said in her opening statement. UGA PD Lt. Daniel Saunders, the state’s eighth witness, testified on Friday afternoon that he had located a white cup near a large rock by the crime scene containing contents that smelled of alcohol.
LAKEN RILEY MURDER EXPOSED GLARING SECURITY LAPSES ON COLLEGE CAMPUSES, NEED FOR EMERGENCY BLUE LIGHTS
Ibarra illegally crossed into the United States through El Paso, Texas, in September 2022 and was released into the U.S. via parole, ICE and DHS sources previously told Fox News.
The area where Laken Riley’s body was found near Lake Herrick on the University of Georgia’s campus in Athens, Georgia, on Saturday, February 24, 2024. Jose Antonio Ibarra has been charged with the murder of Riley. (Mark Sims for Fox News Digital)
His older brother, Diego Ibarra, who worked briefly in a UGA cafeteria before his arrest in February, is charged with green card fraud and had ties to a known Venezuelan gang in the U.S. called Tren de Aragua, according to federal court documents.
ICE previously confirmed to Fox News Digital that Jose Ibarra had been arrested by the New York Police Department a year after he entered the U.S. in August 2023 and had been “charged with acting in a manner to injure a child less than 17 and a motor vehicle license violation.”
Fox News’ Adam Shaw contributed to this report.
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Southeast
Virginia prosecutor’s record on violent offenders scrutinized after illegal immigrant charged in mom’s murder
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A prosecutor in Virginia is facing criticism after a Fairfax County Police Department officer warned the county’s commonwealth attorney about a criminal illegal immigrant who has racked up over 30 arrests before allegedly killing a mother.
Abdul Jalloh, 32, was charged with second-degree murder after he allegedly stabbed a mother to death while at a bus stop in Fairfax County, Virginia, on Feb. 23. Fairfax County Commonwealth Attorney Steve Descano’s office, however, was warned several times about how dangerous Jalloh is, and dismissed many of his previous criminal charges.
Jalloh’s case is far from the only controversial actions by Descano’s office, which even includes a plea deal with a murder suspect that allows him the chance at freedom.
POLICE WARNED PROSECUTORS 3 TIMES ABOUT VIOLENT ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT BEFORE HE ALLEGEDLY KILLED VIRGINIA MOTHER
Here’s a list of controversial cases handled by Descano’s office:
Abdul Jalloh
Abdul Jalloh, 32, is accused of killing Stephanie Minter, 41, at a Virginia bus stop. (Fox 5 DC)
Jalloh, 32, was charged with second-degree murder after he allegedly stabbed a mother to death while at a bus stop in Fairfax County, Virginia, on Feb. 23. The victim, 41-year-old Stephanie Minter, was found dead with multiple stab wounds to her upper body, according to the Department of Homeland Security. Jalloh has a violent rapsheet dating back to 2014 and includes over 30 arrests with several charges dismissed by Descano’s office.
Jalloh was arrested the next day while he was allegedly trying to steal from a liquor store when an employee called 911. Officials said Jalloh came to the U.S. illegally in 2012 from Sierra Leone under the Obama administration.
United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement lodged a detainer on Jalloh in 2020, and he was later issued a final order of removal allowing him to be deported to any country other than Sierra Leone. Despite that order, he was not deported.
A police major for the Fairfax County Police Department even warned Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano about Jalloh on at least three separate occasions, according to emails obtained by WJLA.
In one email to Fairfax County Chief Deputy Commonwealth’s Attorney Jenna Sands, the police major said Jalloh “is one of the repeat (and violent) offenders” that they had discussed before.
TRAVIS COUNTY DA FACES RENEWED ‘SOFT ON CRIME’ CRITICISM AFTER CAREER CRIMINAL CHARGED WITH MURDER
Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano speaking at an event. (Sarah Voisin/Getty Images)
“I wanted to get your background on why he is out so soon and ask if his prior suspended sentence (of I believe 5 years) was pursued by your office? Unfortunately, based on MTV Station’s numerous dealings with him, it is not a question of if, but rather when he will maliciously wound (or worse) again. My role of keeping the public safe, prompts me to follow up on his status,” the major wrote.
A Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office spokesperson told Fox News Digital that the office “was aware of Jalloh’s criminal history and shared police concerns about potential future dangerousness. That is why our Chief Deputy Commonwealth’s Attorney personally handled these cases.”
The spokesperson added that prosecutors “will often explore many different pathways to successful prosecution, but, at the end of the day, our decisions are constrained by what testimony is available and what is legally permissible and practicable in Fairfax courts.”
Joshua Danehower
In 2022, Joshua Danehower was arrested for the murder of Gret Glyer. (Fairfax County Sheriff’s Office)
In 2022, Danehower was charged with Gret Glyer’s murder. According to WUSA 9, Glyer, who owned the donation platform DonorSee, was shot 10 times as he slept next to his wife on June 24, 2022.
Prosecutors alleged Danehower killed Glyer because of an obsession with his wife. The suspect allegedly became fixated with her after a church function, and according to her family, the two had gone on a date about a decade ago.
Danehower was given a plea deal by Descano’s office, which found him not guilty by reason of insanity in February.
DHS RIPS DEM-RUN COUNTY AFTER ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT MURDERER RELEASED: ‘BLOOD ON THEIR HANDS’
Virginia law requires Danehower to be sent to a psychiatric hospital, where his status will be evaluated on an annual basis for the next five years, then every two years afterward. If he’s deemed no longer a threat to himself or others, he’d have an opportunity to be released from the psychiatric hospital.
Heather Glyer, the victim’s wife, said while on the witness stand, “I was robbed of my life partner.”
“My kids were robbed of their father,” she added.
Wilmer Osmany Ramos-Giron
Wilmer Osmany Ramos-Giron pleaded guilty to lesser charges. (DHS)
In January 2025, according to a report by former Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares, Ramos-Giron, an illegal immigrant from Guatemala, choked his ex-wife during an argument and pulled out a knife.
He was charged with felony abduction by force, felony strangulation, and misdemeanor assault and battery against a family member after the incident, but Descano’s office allowed him to plead to lesser charges of misdemeanor battery and brandishing a bladed weapon.
In a statement released by Fairfax Commonwealth’s Attorney Deputy Chief of Staff and Public Information Officer Laura Birnbaum, according to the report, the plea agreement “achieved the outcomes that the victim wanted.”
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However, when the victim spoke with 7News, she refuted Birnbaum’s statement, saying she didn’t agree to the plea deal.
“He’s dangerous,” she said, fearing another violent incident would happen.
“If I die, who is going to take care of them?” the victim asked, referring to her children.
Ronnie Reel
Ronnie Reel accepted a plea deal by Fairfax county prosecutors. (Fairfax County Sheriff’s Office)
In July 2021, Reel was arrested on charges of sexual penetration, forcible sodomy and aggravated sexual battery against a minor, according to the Fairfax County Times.
During Reel’s trial on Sept. 13, 2022, Chief Judge of the Fairfax County Circuit Court Penney Azcarate ruled that the Fairfax County Commonwealth Attorney’s office had missed an evidentiary deadline, meaning confessions, including a call from Reel to a defendant’s mother where he allegedly confessed, as well as other evidence and witnesses couldn’t be used in court.
According to the outlet, that meant the case would rely on the victim’s testimony entirely.
As a result, Reel was offered a plea deal and pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault and battery and was sentenced to one year in prison, but was released on time served. He also wasn’t required to register as a sex offender, according to FOX 5.
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The mother, who asked to be identified as Amber, told FOX 5 the case has had a big impact on her son.
“I was really upset. This is my child, this is my baby,” she said while crying. “And he got no justice. So he continues to see me cry and everything. He held his own, he stayed strong. He’s always trying to be strong for mom.”
“He was confessing every little detail that he did, and it was making me sick to my stomach,” she added. “It was horrible. He literally confessed to me why he did it.”
Fox News Digital’s Alexandra Koch contributed to this report.
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Southeast
MIKE DAVIS: Virginia returns to the Confederacy with a seditious conspiracy against ICE
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Immigration enforcement is a core federal power. Under Article I of the Constitution, Congress has the duty to write our federal immigration laws. Under Article II, the President has the duty to enforce them. States cannot meddle and certainly not obstruct. Unfortunately, many Democrat states, especially Virginia, are on a deadly collision course with the federal government.
American voters gave President Trump and the Republican-led Congress a broad electoral mandate to reverse the disaster the Biden-Harris border policy caused in every state in America by mass importing as many as 20 million illegal aliens, including the worst of the worst around the world.
Activist judges and other Democrat politicians and election deniers have done everything they can fathom to thwart Trump’s constitutional duty to expel these dangerous illegal aliens.
TRUMP URGES DHS, ICE TO PUBLICIZE ARRESTS, SAYS CRACKDOWN IS ‘SAVING MANY INNOCENT LIVES’
The latest example is Virginia, which is passing a series of unconstitutional laws that would dangerously and illegally obstruct ICE. These proposals include criminal penalties, meaning that state law enforcement would attempt to arrest and jail ICE agents for simply doing their jobs.
This effort is seditious, insurrectionist, extremely dangerous and blatantly unconstitutional. For the sake of the Republic, the Justice Department must immediately and aggressively quell this Virginia seditious conspiracy.
Virginia Gov. Abigail Davis Spanberger laughs aloud during a ceremony in a Virginia court in Richmond. (Mike Kropf-Pool/Getty Images)
Fairfax County District Attorney Steve Descano is the Soros puppet Democrat prosecutor in the DC suburb, an uber-wealthy Democrat enclave that is an albatross around Virginia’s neck. Abdul Jalloh is an illegal alien who invaded our country in 2012. Jalloh settled in Virginia and began wreaking havoc on the good citizens there, racking up a whopping 30 arrests. These included one for rape and four charges for stabbing Americans.
Yet, thanks to the willful ineptitude of Fairfax County’s Democrat regime, Jalloh only had one felony conviction. He violated his probation, spent three months in jail and went free because of a deal between his lawyer and Descano’s office. Sanctuary jurisdictions like Fairfax County do not notify ICE when detaining or releasing illegals like Jalloh, who had a final order of removal from 2020.
Police in Fairfax repeatedly warned Descano’s office via email that Jalloh’s release would endanger the public, but the pleas fell on deaf ears. Earlier this week, Jalloh allegedly stabbed to death 41-year-old innocent mother Stephanie Minter at a bus stop.
Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger ran as a moderate Democrat. But after her inauguration this year, she immediately showed her true leftist colors. She issued an order prohibiting cooperation between state officials and ICE.
Several anti-ICE bills await Spanberger’s signature: (1) a prohibition against ICE arrests at courthouses (where these alleged dangerous criminal illegals visit daily); (2) a prohibition against ICE arrests within 40 feet of polling places (where illegals violate federal criminal laws by voting); and (3) criminal penalties for ICE agents who wear masks (because they don’t want to get doxxed and killed).
Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano (Sarah Voisin/Getty Images)
If Spanberger signs these unconstitutional state laws, the Trump Justice Department should immediately sue and seek to enjoin them in court. A Virginia federal judge should issue an injunction, following the lead of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, which fully stayed California’s unconstitutional prohibition against ICE agents’ use of masks.
But civil enforcement is not enough. Virginia Democrat officials plotting to arrest ICE agents for doing their jobs (seditious conspiracy under 18 U.S.C. § 2384) — and especially those who cause the arrests (insurrection under 18 U.S.C. § 2383, assault, kidnapping, harboring, conspiracy, and more) — must go to federal prison for their serious federal felonies. If anyone gets killed in a deadly standoff between these new Virginia confederates and ICE, these Virginia Democrat officials must face felony murder charges.
VIRGINIA LAWMAKERS UNLEASH ON VCU NURSE FIRED OVER ‘HEALTHCARE TERRORISM’ ENCOURAGING HARMING ICE AGENTS
Former President Biden and his missing-in-action border czar Kamala Harris allowed millions of illegal immigrants, including the most violent and dangerous criminals in the world, to pour across our borders. Trump is doing everything in his power to fulfill his broad electoral mandate and undo the damage by arresting and deporting these illegals.
Virginia’s proposed laws do not merely prohibit communication between state officials and ICE; rather, they criminalize federal law enforcement actions that are plainly within the scope of federal immigration enforcement power.
Abdul Jalloh has racked up over 30 arrests since entering the U.S., according to officials. (DHS)
States do not have to help ICE by, for instance, providing law enforcement resources to assist in ICE apprehensions of illegals. But states certainly cannot subvert or obstruct these federal efforts. This is especially true of Virginia’s attempt to arrest ICE agents in the line of duty, which could justify their use of deadly force.
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Virginia’s attempt to subvert and obstruct federal law must fail. We fought the Civil War because the Confederacy, headquartered in Virginia, sought to nullify federal law with respect to slavery. Today’s Virginia Democrats are reverting to their confederate roots.
Just as the federal government did during the Civil War and for a century after when segregationist states continued their efforts to nullify federal law, the federal government now must stand strong against Virginia’s sedition and insurrection. The Supremacy Clause of the Constitution makes plain that federal law is supreme in areas where the federal government has authority.
If Virginia gets away with effectively nullifying federal immigration enforcement, other states can nullify any other federal law that it finds distasteful. Let’s hope Abigail Spanberger comes to her senses and vetoes this insanity. If she does not, the federal government must use all tools at its disposal, including the Insurrection Act of 1807 and other federal criminal statutes, to preserve federal law.
Virginia state officials must go to federal prison for engaging in seditious conspiracy, insurrections and other very serious federal felonies. Anything less would threaten the existence of the Republic.
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Southeast
South Carolina pastor describes evacuating members from Middle East after war broke out during Israel trip
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SUMMERVILLE, S.C. – Dozens of members of a South Carolina church are finally back in the United States after Operation Epic Fury left them stranded in Israel for nearly a week after their flight was supposed to depart.
Forty members of Calvary Chapel Summerville landed in Israel on Feb. 20 for eight days of exploration in the Holy Land.
The group was set to fly home on Feb. 28 and had arrived at the airport three hours before their scheduled departure when the U.S. and Israel launched airstrikes on Iran. The attack prompted the closure of Israel’s airspace and the group had to evacuate the airport.
“It felt like the weight of the world on my shoulders and I just prayed and prayed and prayed and asked God to give me wisdom,” said Vic Carroll, pastor at Calvary Chapel Summerville in South Carolina.
TRAVELERS STRANDED IN DUBAI PAYING HUGE SUMS TO FLEE ON PRIVATE CHARTER FLIGHTS AMID OPERATION EPIC FURY
Members of Calvary Chapel Summerville visit Al-Khazneh in Petra. (Melanie Carroll)
Carroll said the group had to shelter-in-place in Israel, going in and out of bomb shelters for several days. He then had to face the decision of the group staying or taking a bus to Jordan to have a shot at getting a flight back to the United States.
“We ultimately, you know, made the decision between what was bad and what was worse. I thought the worst would be to stay,” the pastor said.
“We were instructed that if a siren goes off while we were on the road, the bus would pull over, we would all need to get on the ground, lay on the ground face-down for at least 10 minutes until the threat was gone, and then be on our way,” he continued.
STATE DEPARTMENT USES PATRIOTS TEAM PLANE TO EVACUATE AMERICANS FROM MIDDLE EAST
The members of Calvary Chapel Summerville sightseeing in the Holy Land. (Melanie Carroll)
Fortunately, that did not happen and the group made it to the airport in Jordan to hop on a flight out of the Middle East Thursday morning.
Before the flight, Carroll said it was frightening, but their faith was greater than their fear.
“We’re just having to trust that we’re making the right decision, and this is our only option to get home, so we [were] just trusting in God,” he said.
AMERICAN STUCK IN MIDDLE EAST ESCAPES IN RACE TO REACH CRITICALLY ILL HUSBAND IN CALIFORNIA
The group returned to the U.S. on Thursday night, landing at JFK in New York.
Melanie Carroll, the pastor’s wife, texted, “We are so thankful!!!!! It’s surreal!!”
Melanie and Vic Carroll while visiting The Holy Land. (Kailey Schuyler)
The unexpected extension of the trip caused the price tag to increase significantly. Melanie created a GoFundMe, writing, “The path to get us home between lodging, flights and transfers will be upwards of $2500 per person.”
The group was able to raise their goal of $100,000 in less than three days.
Melanie said the group is continuing to pray for everyone trying to get out of the Middle East.
Nearly 24,000 Americans have returned to the U.S. after fleeing the Middle East since Operation Epic Fury began last week, according to the State Department.
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