Bill Clinton said the murder of Laken Riley, a Georgia nursing student who was brutally murdered in February by an illegal immigrant from Venezuela, could have been prevented if the killer had been “properly vetted.”

The former president spoke to voters in Georgia on behalf of Kamala Harris on Sunday as part of a campaign in southern battleground states. In his remarks to attendees at a fish fry, Clinton made a broader point by linking Riley’s killing to the bipartisan border bill that was “killed” by Donald Trump this year. He suggested such a bill would have increased funding for border security, which could have stopped the young woman’s killer, who entered the country in 2022.

A clip from Clinton’s comments, shared without context about the bill, was seized on by Trump’s social media operation as evidence that even a surrogate for the Harris campaign couldn’t defend the Biden administration’s border policies.

“(Harris is) the only candidate who has actually passed a bill that would limit immigration to a certain point in any given year,” Clinton said. “Trump killed the bill.”

With the number of illegal migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border increasing in recent years before declining, immigration and border security remain a top issue for voters.

“Kamala Harris claimed the border was ‘secure’ just days after Laken Riley’s illegal immigrant killer Jose Ibarra entered the country,” Trump’s campaign wrote in a press release on Monday.

“President Trump will secure the border and end capture and release. This is why he was just endorsed by the Border Patrol Union.”

Trump and other Republicans have attacked the Biden administration for releasing the Riley murder suspect on parole after he was originally detained.

Riley, a nursing student attending Augusta University in Georgia, was killed during a flight in February. The suspect, José Antonio Ibarra, is a Venezuelan illegal immigrant who was released on parole to the U.S. “due to the detention capacity at the Central Processing Center in El Paso, Texas,” DHS previously confirmed, according to a Senate Judiciary Committee press release. April.

The case has become a flashpoint in the national immigration debate.

“The man who killed Laken Riley in Georgia was released on parole by the Biden-Harris administration because they were unable to detain him at the border,” Senator Linsey Graham (South Carolina-R) said on CNN in September. “That’s no reason to release people on parole.”

He continued, “I promise you; women have been raped and murdered. People have been injured by illegal immigrants who have been released into this country without detention. It’s a nightmare. It’s crazy.”

During his campaign, Trump promised to implement a mass deportation plan if he is re-elected. Trump policy adviser Stephen Miller promised to bring back a “100 percent” deportation rate at the border through policies including “remain in Mexico” and Title 42 restrictions used during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Trump said at a news conference in Los Angeles that work would begin in Springfield, Ohio, and Aurora, Colorado, repeating claims of a Venezuelan gang takeover in Aurora, as well as baseless accusations that Haitian migrants in Springfield have taken residents’ pets eaten. .

On Friday, Trump shared his mass deportation plans at a rally in Aurora. As part of Operation Aurora, Trump said he would seek the death penalty for any undocumented migrant who has killed a U.S. citizen or law enforcement officer.

“I make this pledge and promise you that November 5, 2024 will be the day of liberation in America,” Trump told his supporters. “I will save Aurora and every city that has been invaded and conquered.”

Harris faced questions about immigration during her media blitz last week, including during her interview with 60 minutes.

Asked whether she regretted the Biden administration’s early decision to relax immigration policies, Harris defended the administration’s approach.

“It’s a long-standing problem and solutions are at hand, and we have literally offered solutions from day one,” she said.