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In an interview aired Monday, Laken Riley's father criticized the politicization of his daughter's death.
NBC News reports that Jason Riley feels he is being used politically. “She was much better than that. He should be raised to be the person he is.”
The father of Laken Riley, the Georgia nursing student killed while jogging, is remembering her as a “strong person” who excelled in academics, but he fears her death is being politically exploited. Which has “provoked the people” for the elections to be held in November. ,
While politicians have invoked his name at campaign rallies, in speeches and in an eponymous immigration-related bill, it turned into a flash point in an election year after his killing by a suspect who entered the U.S. illegally two years ago Is gone, police say. Riley reflects on the past month since his death.
“I wish I could have been there to protect her,” he said in an interview airing Monday on NBC's “Today” show, the first time he has spoken publicly since his daughter's murder. “I wish it was me.”
According to University of Georgia Police Chief Jeff Clark, Riley was jogging on the University of Georgia campus early in the morning when she was attacked and died from blunt force trauma.
But Riley was murdered by an illegal alien.
His father is speaking.
If our border was secure she would still be here.
Must watch⤵️ pic.twitter.com/tVuHXuewhJ
— House Judiciary GOP (@JudiciaryGOP) 18 March 2024
Laken Riley's murder has intensified an already heated debate with the Biden administration over failed and underused immigration policies, and the case gained more attention this month when Biden failed to pronounce his name correctly during the State of the Union. Failed in. Riley told NBC that these actions have made it even more difficult to deal with her daughter's death.
But in reaction to what Biden said, Jason Riley is struck by how politicized the circumstances surrounding his daughter's death have become.
“I think this is being used politically to get votes,” Jason Riley said. “It makes me angry. I feel like, you know, they're just using my daughter's name for this. And she was so much better than that, and she should have been raised to be the person she is.” .She was an angel.”
Jason Riley said of his daughter's death, “I wish it wasn't so political, like you say – it started a storm in our country,” and it has incensed a lot of people.
As a result of the split, he said, referring to his and Riley's mother, “There are people on both sides who have attacked our families.”
She and her mother divorced when Riley was young, she said, but she and her daughter remained close and called each other frequently. She spoke about her desire to graduate from Augusta University's College of Nursing and work in a children's hospital. She wrote down her goals for the year, which included going on a date after she became “interested in studies,” her father said.
While Jason Riley supports President Donald Trump, he wishes his daughter's death “wasn't so political.” Still, it has discussed how to secure the southern border and help women, including trafficking victims.
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