MACON, Ga. — Diego Ibarra — the brother of Jose Ibarra, accused of killing Laken Riley on the University of Georgia campus last month — was indicted this week in Macon on his own charge.
Diego Ibarra appeared in a federal courtroom in Macon last week to hear his charge.
Prosecutors argued Ibarra knew he had a fake green card and gave it to law enforcement when they stopped him while looking for his brother Jose. Last week, United States Magistrate Judge Charles Weigle decided not to grant him bond.
According to court documents presented last week, Diego crossed the border illegally last year. He told law enforcement he was afraid to go back to Venezuela. So, he was allowed into the United States while a judge decided if he could stay through a process called asylum.
"Asylum is something that's been around since the middle of the last century in the wake of World War II," Law Professor Scott Titshaw explained.
Titshaw teaches immigration law at Mercer University, and previously taught the university's asylum clinic. He says asylum became a national practice after the war.
There's a strict definition, he said: "Either past persecution, or a well-founded fear of future persecution."
Applicants must meet at least one of five different criteria to be eligible.
"Past persecution or future persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership in a particular social group," Titshaw said.
He says there are several reasons someone may not get asylum; but an applicant could lose the right to it if they entered illegally and waited more than a year to make their case.
Based on testimony in court last week, we don't know for sure whether Diego Ibarra ever got a court date. The Homeland Security agent who testified couldn't recall. Court records show Ibarra was in a program called "Alternative to Detention."
He was supposed to wear an ankle monitor and go to New York to wait for his hearing, but prosecutors say he cut the monitor off and left it in Colorado.
Next, Diego will enter a plea of guilty or not guilty.