As the 2024 presidential election approaches, the issue of illegal immigration has become more apparent due to a series of high-profile crimes against women allegedly committed by illegal immigrants.

The murder of a nursing student in Georgia, the rape-murder of a mother of five in Maryland, the strangulation-murder of a 12-year-old girl in Texas, and several other major local crimes have steadily piled up in recent months, prompting the passage of new laws at the state level and keeping immigration in the news. The negative headlines have put President Joe Biden, who was already receiving low marks on immigration due to the ongoing border crisis, on the defensive. (Related: ICE arrests illegal immigrant wanted on child rape charges after being released into the US years ago)

During his recent State of the Union address, Biden was pressed to speak about one significant murder case.

“Lincoln [Laken] Riley is an innocent young woman who was murdered,” Biden said. I started saying During the 2024 State of the Union address, as the president was talking about border security, Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia yelled, “Say her name.”

Biden held up the pin badge Greene had given him and began speaking about the murder that took place a month ago.

“It was illegal immigration, that's true,” he said. “But what about the thousands killed by legal immigrants? My heart goes out to her parents. I lost a child myself, so I know exactly how it feels.”

Riley, a nursing student from Athens, Georgia, was kidnapped and murdered while jogging near the University of Georgia campus on February 22. The medical examiner determined that Riley's cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head.

Jose Antonio Ibarra, a 26-year-old Venezuelan national, was subsequently arrested on suspicion of murder. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) later confirmed that Ibarra had entered the country illegally, sparking further backlash in the state and across the country.

The murder prompted a recall movement against Athens, Georgia's Mayor Kelly Gertz, the sheriff, and the district attorney, with residents calling for their resignation. Although Mayor Gertz had repeatedly stated in public that Athens was not a “sanctuary” city, unearthed emails revealed that she supported the city's current policy of not fully cooperating with immigration detention requests.

At the state level, following Riley's killing, Georgia Governor Brian Kemp, a Republican, signed a bill into law requiring sheriffs to cooperate with federal immigration authorities or risk losing state funding. The new law requires local corrections officers to detain aliens wanted by ICE agents.

As details emerged about Ibarra's release to the US and his brother's alleged ties to a Venezuelan prison gang, immigration hardliner former President Donald Trump has used the crime as a campaign ploy. The Republican candidate met with Riley's family at a campaign rally in Georgia in March and was photographed embracing them in front of a crowd.

“He has no remorse. He has no regrets. He has no empathy,” Trump said of the current president. “He has no compassion and, worst of all, he has no intention of stopping this horrific invasion that took the beautiful American life of our precious Laken.”

Riley's murder was the first local crime involving immigrants this year to gain national attention.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) wears a shirt and button featuring slain Georgia college student Laken Riley ahead of US President Joe Biden's State of the Union address on the House of Representatives chamber of the US Capitol in Washington, DC on March 7, 2024. (Mandel Ngan/AFP) (Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images)

The body of 12-year-old Jocelyn Nungaray was found floating in a creek north of Houston in June. After a days-long investigation, local police arrested two Venezuelan nationals, Johan Jose Rangel Martinez, 21, and Franklin Jose Peña Ramos, 26.

DNA testing revealed that the 12-year-old girl had been sexually assaulted before being strangled to death, and prosecutors believe two men tied her up, pulled down her trousers, sexually assaulted her, then suffocated her and dumped her body in a nearby creek.

Federal immigration officials quickly determined that both men were in the US illegally, with one of them having arrived just a month before the alleged murder of the girl. The case quickly garnered national attention, and the House Homeland Security Committee later published a report questioning why both men were released into the US when there was ample detention space available to hold them at the time they illegally crossed the border.

Even before the first 2024 presidential debate, Trump hadn't forgotten about the alleged crime. Just 10 minutes before the first debate with Biden, the former president called Jocelyn's mother to offer his condolences, an act that reportedly “shocked” her. according to New York Post.

It wasn't the first time Trump had reached out to the Angel family that month.

The family of Rachel Morin, the Maryland mother of five who was allegedly murdered by an illegal immigrant, said last month they were “deeply moved” by President Trump's outreach after news that the suspect had finally been arrested.

“We were deeply touched by President Trump's kindness and concern,” Rachel's mother, Patty Morin, said in a statement released by the family's lawyer. “He was sincere and genuinely wanted to know how our family was coping.”

Authorities confirmed that Morin's suspect, Victor Antonio Martinez Hernandez, 23, is also wanted in his native El Salvador for the murder of a woman, making him one of many illegal immigrants who have been able to enter the United States despite being wanted for a variety of violent crimes abroad.

WASHINGTON, DC – JUNE 27: Republican presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump (L) looks on as U.S. President Joe Biden during the CNN presidential debate at CNN Studios in Atlanta, Georgia on June 27, 2024. (Photo by Andrew Harnick/Getty Images)

The killings have focused further attention on illegal immigration, already a major concern for American voters, amid a worsening border crisis. Under Biden's administration, Border Patrol agents have encountered more than 7 million migrants crossing into the U.S. illegally between ports of entry. according to The latest data from Customs and Border Protection (CBP). (RELATED: 'Enough with the criminals': New York City council member unveils bill to end city's sanctuary status amid immigration crisis)

Biden has welcomed a recent slowdown in migrant arrests, thanks to a crackdown by the Mexican government and an executive order last month seeking to curb the number of migrants seeking asylum, but critics still blame him for the record numbers of illegal immigration that have occurred during his time in office.

President Biden has enacted 296 executive actions on immigration in his first year in office. according to According to an analysis by the Migration Policy Institute, 89 of those presidential proclamations specifically reversed or began the process of reversing Trump's immigration policies, with Biden reversing major Trump-era policy initiatives such as ending the Remain in Mexico program and halting construction of the border wall.

The president also recently granted a mass amnesty to 500,000 illegal immigrants who married US citizens, a move critics say will only encourage more illegal immigration.

“There is no doubt that the Biden administration, with a history of paroleing aliens who were inadequately vetted and therefore inadmissible, will approve all applications under the president's executive order, granting permanent residence and ultimately citizenship to more than 500,000 undocumented immigrants,” Eric Ruark, research director for Numbers USA, said in a statement to the Daily Caller News Foundation.

“In the midst of a historic border crisis, President Biden's unlawful amnesty sends a message to would-be immigrants that our nation's borders remain wide open and that they will ultimately be rewarded if they are able to enter the country,” Ruark continued.

The White House did not respond to a request for comment from the DCNF.

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