Every parent sending their child to college holds a quiet prayer for their safety and return. For generations, American families trusted that communities, campuses, and morning jogging trails were places where young people could thrive without fear. Call me old-fashioned, but that was once a reasonable expectation. Then came years of reckless open-border policies that prioritized political posturing over protecting American citizens.
The cost of these failures is not abstract—it is measured in lives stolen, futures erased, and families torn apart by grief that never should have been theirs to carry. One young woman in Athens, Georgia, knows this reality intimately.
“Laken could have been me,” she said. “I don’t run in public anymore and I always check in with my dad. Athens no longer feels safe, and I just pray this will redeem it somehow. I want my town to feel safe again. I wish this had never happened and I am passionate about bringing people to Jesus because when you truly have that encounter with Him, everything else starts to make sense.”
This Saturday, February 21st, hundreds will gather at Tate Plaza in Athens for the inaugural “Run for Your Life” 5K. The memorial honors Laken Hope Riley, a 22-year-old nursing student murdered on February 22, 2024, during a morning jog on the University of Georgia campus. As of this week, roughly 400 people have signed up—a number that continues to climb.
Elizabeth Sun Designs organized the event with Young Americans for Freedom at UGA, reflecting Laken’s values. The Laken Hope Foundation will receive most funds raised to support women’s safety awareness, nursing student scholarships, and children’s healthcare—causes she cared deeply about.
A public memorial service follows the race, featuring remarks from Laken’s family and Rep. Mike Collins, author of the Laken Riley Act. The Christ-centered program draws inspiration from 2 Timothy 4:7: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.”
The part that should make your blood boil: Laken Riley should be alive today. She was preparing to wrap up her nursing degree and build a career healing others. Instead, her life was stolen by Jose Antonio Ibarra, a Venezuelan national who entered the U.S. illegally in September 2022. He was convicted in November 2024 and is now serving life in prison without parole.
When Joe Biden addressed this tragedy at the State of the Union, Americans watched him stumble through her name. When he finally acknowledged her killer, he used the word “illegal.” Then he apologized—not to Laken’s family, not for disastrous border policies that let Ibarra into the country. Instead, Biden apologized for his word choice, expressing more regret over potentially offending criminal border crossers than for the young woman whose death his administration enabled.
That is the Democrat Party in a nutshell: protecting the feelings of lawbreakers while dismissing those who pay the ultimate price.
Governor Scott Walker, president of Young Americans for Freedom, stated plainly: “We must work to ensure what happened to Laken Riley never happens again.” Sounds obvious? Apparently not enough for the previous administration.
Laken Riley ran her race with courage and grace. She kept the faith. Now it falls to the rest of us to make sure her story echoes for generations—and that the reckless decisions responsible for her death are never repeated on American soil.
