Latino Groups Condemn Killing of Georgia Student as Suspect's Nationality, Status Take Center Stage in Debate

Latino organizations and students at the University of Georgia have pleaded against anti Hispanic and anti immigrant rhetoric, following the revelation that the suspect of killing nursing student Laken Riley is an undocumented immigrant from Venezuela who was allowed to stay to pursue his case.

The requests come after former President Donald Trump blamed President Joe Biden's policies for the fatal beating, all in a broader context where he has blamed immigration and Democrats' approach to it as the cause for several other issues in the U.S.

"Crooked Joe Biden's Border INVASION is destroying our country and killing our citizens! The horrible murder of 22-year-old Laken Riley at the University of Georgia should have NEVER happened!" wrote Trump in his social media site, Truth Social.

According to NBC News, the Latino Community Fund Georgia said that it has been "monitoring instances of folks that have been saying that they want to go 'hunting for immigrants.'"

The organization's executive director, Gilda Pedraza, told the outlet that the amount of violent posts and their incendiary rhetoric pose a "real-life threat" which has led some of her group's members to remove their contact information from their websites.

The organization posted a statement over the weekend calling for a "a full investigation that will bring justice to her family and the community in Athens," but also warning that nationality or immigration status "should not be used to make generalizations, assumptions, or accusations about large groups of people."

Pedraza told NBC News that the group had to close the comment section on social media given the amount of hateful commentary received.

Nonetheless, the apparent murder of Riley has exacerbated the role immigration has in the public conversation and as a campaign issue as the presidential elections get closer by the day. A Gallup poll from Tuesday showed that an increasingly growing number of Americans consider immigration to be the most important problem facing the country, above the government and the economy.

Overall, 28% of respondents said that was the case in February, an increase of eight percentage points compared to the previous month. It has surpassed the government (20%) and the combination of the "economy in general" (12%) and inflation (11%), over this time period.

Asides from Trump, House Speaker Mike Johnson has mentioned the killing of Riley as a reason to implement tougher measures at the border. In contrast, state Senator Jason Esteves pointed at Republicans' opposition to approving a legislative package that would have allocated $15 billion to border security measures.

"Those who bring up border security should take that up with Trump, who recently whipped Republicans in D.C. into shelving a bipartisan border security bill," he said.

Riley's body was found last Thursday after she was reported missing. The 22-year-old was an University of Georgia graduate who was attending nursing school. University Police Chief Jeff Clark told reporters that Riley had suffered "visible injuries" and died of blunt force trauma.

26-year-old José Antonio Ibarra was identified the next day as a suspect. He has been booked in the Clarke County Jail on an array of charges, malice murder, felony murder, aggravated battery and concealing the death of another among them.