Crime
Biden’s Illegal Immigration Problem Has Gone From Bad To Worse As High-Profile Murders Rock US
From the Daily Caller News Foundation
A slate of high-profile crimes against women, allegedly committed at the hands of illegal migrants, has brought the issue of illegal immigration into sharper focus as the 2024 presidential election draws closer.
The killing of a nursing student in Georgia, the rape and murder of mother of five in Maryland, the strangulation killing of 12-year-old girl in Texas and several other significant local crimes has steadily compiled in recent months, prompting the passage of new legislation at the state level and keeping immigration in the news. The negative headlines have forced President Joe Biden, already dealing with low marks on immigration due to the ongoing border crisis, to remain on the defensive.
Biden was pushed into speaking about one significant murder during his most recent State of the Union speech.
“Lincoln [Laken] Riley, an innocent young woman who was killed,” Biden began to say during the 2024 State of the Union address. The president was speaking about border security when Georgia GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene yelled at him to “say her name.”
Biden held up a pin given to him by Greene and began to speak about the murder that took place a month prior.
“By an illegal. That’s right,” he said. “But how many of thousands of people are being killed by legals? To her parents, I say: My heart goes out to you. Having lost children myself, I understand.”
Riley — a nursing student living in Athens, Georgia — was abducted and murdered while jogging near the University of Georgia campus on Feb. 22. She died from blunt force trauma to the head, a coroner determined.
José Antonio Ibarra, a 26-year-old Venezuelan national, was subsequently arrested for her murder. Immigration and Customs (ICE) later confirmed that Ibarra entered the country illegally, further sparking statewide and national backlash.
The murder was followed by a recall campaign against Athens, Georgia, Mayor Kelly Girtz, the sheriff and the district attorney, with constituents calling on them to resign. Despite Girtz repeatedly saying in public that Athens was not a “sanctuary” city, unearthed emails revealed the mayor stating that he supported the town’s current policy of not being fully cooperative with immigration detainer requests.
At the state level, Riley’s killing was followed by Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, a Republican, signing into law legislation that sheriffs cooperate with federal immigration authorities or else risk losing state funding. The new law mandates local jailers hold any foreign national in their custody when they are wanted by ICE agents.
As more details emerged about how Ibarra was able to be released into the U.S. and his brother’s alleged ties to a Venezuelan prison gang former President Donald Trump, an immigration hawk, highlighted the crime on the campaign trail. The Republican candidate met with Riley’s family at a Georgia campaign rally in March, and was photographed embracing them before a crowd.
“He’s got no remorse, he’s got no regret. He’s got no empathy,” Trump said of the current president. “No compassion, and worst of all, he has no intention of stopping the deadly invasion that stole precious Laken’s beautiful, American life.”
Riley’s killing proved to be just the first local crime involving immigration this year that rocketed to national attention.
The body of 12-year-old Jocelyn Nungaray was found floating in a north Houston creek in June. Following several days of investigation, local law enforcement arrested two Venezuelan nationals, 21-year-old Johan Jose Rangel Martinez and 26-year-old Franklin Jose Pena Ramos.
DNA tests determined that the 12-year-old had been sexually assaulted before she was strangled to death. Prosecutors believe both men tied her up, pulled her pants down, sexually assaulted her and then suffocated her before dumping her body in a nearby creek.
Federal immigration authorities soon confirmed that both men were living in the U.S. illegally, with one of them having only been in the country less than a month before allegedly killing the young girl. The incident immediately attracted national attention, with the House Homeland Security Committee later publishing a report that questioned why both men were released into the U.S. when there was more than enough detention space to keep them in physical detention at the time they illegally crossed the border.
The alleged crime was not forgotten by Trump, even moments before the first 2024 presidential debate. The former president called Jocelyn’s mother just 10 minutes before his first debate with Biden to express his condolences, a gesture that reportedly “shocked” her, according to the New York Post.
It wasn’t the only time Trump reached out to an angel family that month.
The family of Rachel Morin, a Maryland mother of five who was allegedly murdered by an illegal migrant, revealed last month they were “deeply touched” by Trump’s outreach following news that a suspect had finally been apprehended.
“I am deeply touched by President Trump’s kindness and concern,” Patty Morin, Rachel’s mother, said in a statement released by the family’s attorney. “He was genuine and truly wanted to know how our family was coping.”
Authorities confirmed that Morin’s alleged killer, 23-year-old Victor Antonio Martinez-Hernandez, is also wanted for the murder of a woman in his home country of El Salvador — making him one of many illegal migrants who were able to enter the U.S. despite being wanted abroad for various heinous crimes.
The slate of killings have put a microscope on illegal immigration, a topic already of major concern for American voters as the border crisis has raged on. Under Biden, Border Patrol agents have encountered more than seven million migrants crossing illegally into the U.S. between ports of entry, according to the latest data by Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
Biden has enjoyed, very recently, a slowdown of migrant apprehensions thanks in large part to a crackdown by the Mexican government and an executive order last month that seeks to control the number of migrants seeking asylum. However, critics maintain that the record levels of illegal migration experienced under his tenure remain a problem of his doing.
In the first year of his presidency, Biden undertook 296 executive actions on immigration, according to an analysis by the Migration Policy Institute. Of those presidential proclamations, 89 specifically reversed or began the process of undoing Trump’s immigration policies — and Biden has undone major Trump-era policy initiatives, such as the shutdown of the Remain in Mexico program and the nixing of new border wall construction.
The president has also recently granted mass amnesty to half a million illegal migrants married to U.S. citizens — a move that critics say will only encourage more illegal immigration.
“There’s no reason to doubt that the Biden administration — with its history of paroling inadequately vetted, inadmissible aliens into the country — will rubber-stamp every application under the President’s executive order, thus granting half a million or more illegal immigrants permanent residency and, eventually, citizenship,” Erik Ruark, director of research for NumbersUSA, said in a statement to the Daily Caller News Foundation.
“Amidst an historic border crisis, President Biden’s illegal amnesty sends would-be migrants the message that our borders remain wide open, and that they will eventually be rewarded if they can get into the country,” Ruark continued.
The White House did not respond to a request for comment from the DCNF.
(Featured Image Media Credit: Screenshot/Rumble/CNN)
Crime
CBSA Bust Uncovers Mexican Cartel Network in Montreal High-Rise, Moving Hundreds Across Canada-U.S. Border
A court document cited by La Presse in prior reporting on the case.
The conviction targets Edgar Gonzalez de Paz, 37, a Mexican national identified in court evidence as a key organizer in a Montreal-based smuggling network that La Presse documented in March through numerous legal filings.
According to the Canada Border Services Agency, Gonzalez de Paz’s guilty plea acknowledges that he arranged a clandestine crossing for seven migrants on January 27–28, 2024, in exchange for money. He had earlier been arrested and charged with avoiding examination and returning to Canada without authorization.
Breaking the story in March, La Presse reported: “A Mexican criminal organization has established itself in Montreal, where it is making a fortune by illegally smuggling hundreds of migrants across the Canada-U.S. border. Thanks to the seizure of two accounting ledgers, Canadian authorities have gained unprecedented access to the group’s secrets, which they hope to dismantle in the coming months.”
La Presse said the Mexico-based organization ran crossings in both directions — Quebec to the United States and vice versa — through roughly ten collaborators, some family-linked, charging $5,000 to $6,000 per trip and generating at least $1 million in seven months.
The notebooks seized by CBSA listed clients, guarantors, recruiters in Mexico, and accomplices on the U.S. side. In one April 20, 2024 interception near the border, police stopped a vehicle registered to Gonzalez de Paz and, according to evidence cited by La Presse, identified him as one of the “main organizers,” operating without legal status from a René-Lévesque Boulevard condo that served as headquarters.
Seizures included cellphones, a black notebook, and cocaine. A roommate’s second notebook helped authorities tally about 200 migrants and more than $1 million in receipts.
“This type of criminal organization is ruthless and often threatens customers if they do not pay, or places them in a vulnerable situation,” a CBSA report filed as evidence stated, according to La Presse.
The Montreal-based organization first appeared on the radar in a rural community of about 400 inhabitants in the southern Montérégie region bordering New York State, La Presse reported, citing court documents.
On the U.S. side of the line, in the Swanton Sector (Vermont and adjoining northern New York and New Hampshire), authorities reported an exceptional surge in 2022–2023 — driven largely by Mexican nationals rerouting via Canada — foreshadowing the Mexican-cartel smuggling described in the CBSA case.
Gonzalez de Paz had entered Canada illegally in 2023, according to La Presse. When officers arrested him, CBSA agents seized 30 grams of cocaine, two cellphones, and a black notebook filled with handwritten notes. In his apartment, they found clothing by Balenciaga, a luxury brand whose T-shirts retail for roughly $1,000 each.
Investigators have linked this case to another incident at the same address involving a man named Mario Alberto Perez Gutierrez, a resident of the same condo as early as 2023.
Perez Gutierrez was accompanied by several men known to Canadian authorities for cocaine trafficking, receiving stolen goods, armed robbery, or loitering in the woods near the American border, according to a Montreal Police Service (SPVM) report filed as evidence.
The CBSA argued before the immigration tribunal that Gonzalez de Paz belonged to a group active in human and drug trafficking — “activities usually orchestrated by Mexican cartels.”
As The Bureau has previously reported, Justin Trudeau’s Liberal Cabinet was warned in 2016 that lifting visa requirements for Mexican visitors would “facilitate travel to Canada by Mexicans with criminal records,” potentially including “drug smugglers, human smugglers, recruiters, money launderers and foot soldiers.”
CBSA “serious-crime” flags tied to Mexican nationals rose sharply after the December 2016 visa change. Former CBSA officer Luc Sabourin, in a sworn affidavit cited by The Bureau, alleged that hundreds of cartel-linked operatives entered Canada following the visa lift.
The closure of Roxham Road in 2023 altered migrant flows and increased reliance on organized smugglers — a shift reflected in the ledger-mapped Montreal network and a spike in U.S. northern-border encounters.
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Crime
Public Execution of Anti-Cartel Mayor in Michoacán Prompts U.S. Offer to Intervene Against Cartels
“I don’t want to be just another mayor on the list of those executed”
On the first night of November, during Day of the Dead celebrations, the independent, anti-cartel mayor of Uruapan in Michoacán, Carlos Manzo, was assassinated in the heart of his city during a public festival. His bloody murder has underscored the deadly risks faced by local officials who may lack adequate protection from a state that critics say is corroded by corruption and penetrated by powerful cartel networks that, in some regions, have supplanted government authority. The killing intensifies urgent questions about political and police corruption, cartel impunity, and the scope of U.S.–Mexico security cooperation — with a response from the U.S. State Department today offering to “deepen security cooperation with Mexico.”
Manzo, a fiercely outspoken anti-cartel mayor who took office in 2024 as Uruapan’s first independent leader, was gunned down as he stood before crowds at the annual Day of the Dead candlelight celebration. Witnesses said gunfire erupted shortly after Manzo appeared onstage, holding his young son moments before the attack. The festival, known locally as the Festival de las Velas, drew hundreds of families to Uruapan’s central plaza — now transformed into the scene of Mexico’s latest high-profile political assassination, and a catalyst for nationwide outrage, as online protests surged and citizens called for demonstrations against cartel violence.
According to early reports, at least two suspects have been detained and one attacker was killed on site. Authorities asserted — despite the success of the attack — that Manzo had been under National Guard protection since December 2024, with additional reinforcements added in May 2025 following credible threats to his life.
In Washington today, the killing drew political reaction. “My thoughts are with the family and friends of Carlos Manzo, mayor of Uruapan, Michoacán, Mexico, who was assassinated at a public Day of the Dead celebration last night. The United States stands ready to deepen security cooperation with Mexico to wipe out organized crime on both sides of the border,” Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau, the former U.S. ambassador to Mexico, said in a statement shared online.
Federal Security Minister Omar García Harfuch said the gunmen “took advantage of the vulnerability of a public event” to carry out the attack, despite a standing security perimeter.
President Claudia Sheinbaum condemned the killing as a “vile” assault on democracy and vowed there would be “zero impunity.” Her administration convened an emergency security meeting and pledged that the investigation would reach the “intellectual authors” of the crime. Yet the murder has already ignited outrage across Mexico over the government’s failure to protect local officials in cartel-dominated states such as Michoacán, where extortion, assassinations, and territorial disputes continue to erode basic governance.
Manzo had publicly warned of his fate. “I don’t want to be just another mayor on the list of those executed,” he said earlier this year, as he pressed the federal government for better coordination between municipal and military authorities. For years, Uruapan — an agricultural and trade hub in western Mexico — has been the site of deadly clashes between the Jalisco New Generation Cartel and remnants of the Knights Templar Organization, both vying to control lucrative extortion and drug routes.
The killing of Manzo fits a dark and familiar pattern. In 2025 alone, several mayors in Michoacán, Guerrero, and Tamaulipas have been killed in attacks widely attributed to organized-crime groups. In June, the mayors of Tepalcatepec and Tacámbaro were ambushed and slain while traveling in official convoys. More than 90 local officials have been murdered since 2018 — a rate that analysts say reflects how cartels target municipal governments to ensure political control over territories tied to narcotics, mining, and agriculture. Uruapan, at the heart of Mexico’s avocado belt, is a strategic prize for the cartels that tax every shipment leaving the region.
The mayor’s death also recalls earlier tragedies that scarred the nation. In 2012, Dr. María Santos Gorrostieta Salazar, the former mayor of Tiquicheo, was abducted and murdered after surviving two assassination attempts and defying cartel threats. Her death became emblematic of the dangers faced by reformers who refuse to cooperate with criminal groups. More than a decade later, Manzo’s murder illustrates that little has changed — except the brazenness of the attackers, now willing to strike in front of cameras and families celebrating one of Mexico’s most sacred holidays.
The killing has also reignited long-standing U.S. frustration over Mexico’s inability to stem cartel violence, even as the Trump administration has expanded counter-narcotics operations at the border. Under Trump’s renewed directives, the U.S. has classified several Mexican cartels as foreign terrorist organizations and empowered the Pentagon to develop strike options against high-value targets abroad. A September 2025 joint statement between Washington and Mexico City pledged deeper intelligence sharing and cross-border enforcement initiatives, including efforts to halt arms trafficking southward.
However, Mexico’s government remains deeply wary of any U.S. military involvement on its soil. President Sheinbaum has warned that “Mexico will not stand for an invasion in the name of counter-cartel operations,” rebuffing Republican calls for unilateral action. Her position lays bare a long-standing tension between Mexico’s need for U.S. support and its insistence on sovereignty — a fault line that Manzo’s killing has reignited.
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