ROME — As Donald Trump supporters arrived Saturday at the Forum River Center, volunteers handed out stark posters with a smiling picture of Laken Riley, the slain nursing student, along with three all-caps words: “SAY HER NAME.”
The former president and his allies have turned Riley’s killing into a rallying cry for tougher immigration laws. A Venezuelan native who entered the U.S. illegally in 2022 is charged with murder in her death.
U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Rome Republican, heckled Biden during the State of the Union to address Riley’s death.
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
And U.S. Rep. Mike Collins, R-Athens, sponsored a bipartisan measure that would require the detention of anyone in the country unlawfully who commits theft or burglary. He said in an interview he’s confident it will pass the U.S. Senate after attracting more than three dozen Democratic votes in his chamber.
Democrats, too, are leaning into the issue. President Joe Biden has pummeled Trump for orchestrating the demise of a bipartisan border deal. And the Democratic National Committee launched billboards attacking Trump and Greene for opposing the compromise.
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