Will Laken Riley’s Murder Tip Georgia?

Laken Riley , a nursing student, was sexually assaulted and killed on a jogging trail near the University of Georgia , in Athens , in July .

Donald Trump and his allies have seized on Riley ’s death even more intensely than his 2020 campaign fastened on Kate Steinle , a woman killed nine years ago in a freak accident on a San Francisco pier.

Both victims were native-born white women; both killers were illegal immigrants.

Fearmongering over the threat that illegal immigration poses to native-born white women is misleading at best.

Crime statistics show that illegal immigrants are less likely than native Americans to commit violent crimes.

The white, non-Hispanic population in Georgia is teetering on the brink of minority status.

The state’s coming majority still lacks voting power.

Laken Riley’s murder has become a household word across Georgia , where many families aspire to send their children to college in Athens .

Laken Ibarra faces life in prison without a chance for parole; her critics, including some Democrats , say that their main complaint is her ineffectiveness.

Trump supporters insist there is nothing racist about their opposition to Gonzalez , or about their preoccupation with the killings of Riley and the other native-born women.