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After the Athens-Clarke County mayor insisted that the community where nursing student Laken Riley was murdered by an alleged illegal immigrant was not a sanctuary city, residents pointed to the sheriff who campaigned on not cooperating with ICE.
A resurfaced video from 2020 appears to show then-candidate John Williams, who is now the Athens-Clark County sheriff, stating that he would not cooperate with ICE.
“It is not my intention to cooperate with detainers,” Williams told a reporter from the Athens Politics Nerd. “I see it as the sheriff’s responsibility to protect the community. We can’t help with a culture of fear in our community and expect our community to respond and help us in situations.”
Girtz said Georgia law doesn’t allow for sanctuary cities and repeatedly rejected the characterization of Athens as a sanctuary.
“There’s been no legislation from this government that’s created sanctuary city status,” he said.
Jose Ibarra was arrested on Feb. 23 in connection with Laken Riley’s Feb. 22 murder in Athens, Georgia. (Clarke County Sheriff’s Office)
The community’s outrage came after Riley was allegedly murdered on the campus of the University of Georgia by Jose Antonio Ibarra, an alleged illegal immigrant from Venezuela.
Fox News’ Claudia Kelly-Bazan and Michael Ruiz contributed to this report.
