Easy to ‘start blaming a community’ after illegal immigrant charged with Athens woman’s murder

ATLANTA — The issue of sanctuary cities and immigrants in Georgia has been forced into the spotlight after a nursing student was killed on UGA’s campus last week.

Jose Ibarra, who is not a legal U.S. citizen, has been arrested and charged with killing Laken Riley while she was out for a morning run.

Channel 2 Investigative Reporter Sophia Choi spoke with several Latin Americans who say they are worried about generalizations against their community.

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They say they feel like they are being lumped in with Ibarra and are being looked at as criminals when they’ve done nothing wrong.

Dealing with sanctuary cities and undocumented immigrants became top of mind for Governor Brian Kemp, who is from Athens, after Riley’s murder. Now some Georgians want to know why undocumented immigrants are allowed to live in their communities.

Some residents believe Athens Mayor Kelly Girtz have turned their city into a sanctuary city, even going so far as to chant “liar” at him during a news conference on Wednesday morning.

The mayor says the city is not a sanctuary city. He says he’s just trying to create a welcoming environment for everyone, including immigrants.

“Those families tend to be blended amongst a variety of immigration statuses,” Girtz said.

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The Latin American Association in Georgia says Latinos contribute a lot to the Georgia economy and are proud to be part of America.

“It’s easy to have some backlash, easy for folks to get angry and start blaming a community,” Latin American Association CEO Santiago Marquez said. “I’m worried about our social workers. I’m worried about our staff.”

He’s also worried about the 50,000 his non-profit serves.

“There’s always going to be people who do crazy things, and I don’t think we should generalize,” resident Roberto Hernandez said.

Marquez told Choi that he is worried that the positive contributions of the Latin American community will be overshadowed by the misplaced anger some feel toward them.

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IN RELATED NEWS:

House committee passes immigration bill days after nursing student’s killing on UGA campus This bill was passed in the wake of the arrest of an undocumented immigrant charged with the murder of a nursing student on the University of Georgia campus.

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