By Joe Johnson
Another brother of the man accused of killing a 22-year-old nursing student on the University of Georgia (UGA) campus is in custody at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in south Georgia.
During a hearing on Thursday for his brother Diego Ibarra, prosecutors mentioned that another brother, 24-year-old Argenis Ibarra, was apparently in the country illegally.
Aregnis is being held at the Stewart Detention Center, an ICE facility in Lumpkin County.
Jose Ibarra, brother to both Argenis and Diego, is jailed without bail being set in the county jail in Athens, charged with murder and other crimes in related to the Feb. 22 death of Laken Riley,
ICE confirmed that agents took Argenis into custody in Athens on Feb. 23, the same day Athens-Clarke County police arrested Diego and Jose.
ICE said Argenis had entered the U.S. unlawfully twice and is in custody “pending further investigation of his immigration case.”
Argenis “first entered the United States on April 3, 2023, near Eagle Pass, Texas unlawfully, and he was returned to Mexico the same day by U.S. Border Patrol pursuant to Title 42 expulsion procedures," according to ICE.
Diego also had been arrested in Texas, but he absconded from an ICE "alternative to detention " program while wearing a GPS ankle monitor.
He was subsequently arrested three times in Athens prior Riley's murder, for shoplifting, motor vehicle violations, and failing to appear in court.