The father of slain 22-year-old Georgia nursing student Laken Riley, Jason Riley, spoke out in his first interview since the death of his daughter. He told NBC he feels as though her death is being exploited politically and that it angers him.
"I feel like, you know, they're just using my daughter's name for that," Riley told NBC's Priscilla Thompson in an interview that aired Monday on TODAY.
"She was much better than that. She should be raised up for the person that she is."
Riley was killed while on her morning jog last month on the University of Georgia campus. Her father revealed his daughter was a marathon runner and had big dreams of becoming a nurse.
"She was like an angel," he said.
"I'd rather her not be such a political, how you say - it started a storm in our country," Jason Riley said of his daughter's death, "and it's incited a lot of people."
Riley, however, did not hold back when asked about the US immigration policy, telling NBC that "he has no idea if different policies would've changed anything" but that Ibarra "might not have been here had we had secure borders."
He does believe it has pushed necessary discussions to the frontlines on how best to secure the border and help women, including those who are victims of human trafficking.
"Laken has been a rallying cry for secure borders and for the illegal immigration policies of this current administration, but there are many women we don't get to hear about," he continued.
Riley further told NBC that he would rather think about how others commemorated her at her funeral, where hundreds of people joined together to pay their respects.
"She was only 22. She had a lot of life left to give to the world," Jason Riley said.
"If everybody could live like Laken," he added, "it would make the world a better place."
Riley's death has spurred much controversy amidst the political landscape. The suspect, Jose Ibarra, who is from Venezuela and entered the US illegally two years ago, has prompted intense debate over immigration policies.
Former President Donald Trump noted Laken's death while discussing the border issue at his campaign rallies.
President Joe Biden referenced the killing at the State of the Union Address following pressure from conservatives who alleged her death was the direct result of current immigration policies.
Several Democrats have accused Republicans of honing in on Laken's death to win political points.
Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., called the House bill "smoke and mirrors" created by Republicans and urged that "rather than demagoguing this tragic death by this young woman, they ought to get serious."
