Trump is exploiting the issue for political benefit
When news of Riley’s death first broke, but before law enforcement officials had identified the suspect, one viral post on X adopted a different frame.
“My mind finds it incomprehensible that in 2024 women STILL cannot go for a run without the possibility of being murdered,” wrote
Simone De Alba, a news anchor for WUSA9. “Laken Riley was 22 years old, a nursing student at Augusta University. She was murdered on UGA’s campus. Running, folks. That’s it. She was on a damn run.”
Soon afterward, the interpretation of Riley’s death as a chilling example of violence against women was swept aside by the right’s focus on the suspect’s immigration status. Conservatives argued that the only relevant fact was that the suspect “shouldn’t be” in the US.
But why must that be the only relevant fact? This was a statistically unusual crime in many respects. Murders of young white women by strangers are not common, hence the
media attention that often accompanies them.
And the claim that such a terrible act is typical of unauthorized immigrants is a noxious lie — one that just fans the flames of hate to try to help a presidential candidate win.
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