Top House Republican says Joe Biden is to blame for the murder of Laken Riley, 22, by an alleged illegal migrant and demands he take executive action NOW as Senate GOP renews calls to divert $15 billion from the IRS to the southern border

House Whip Tom Emmer is joining Donald Trump in blaming Joe Biden for the southern border crisis leading to the murder of Laken Riley, 22.

The University of Georgia nursing student went for a run last week when she was murdered by blunt force trauma to the head, according to UGA police, and her body was left in the woods.

The heinous crime has renewed calls for more action at the southern border, especially in vetting who is released into the country without legal status.

The lack of security and vetting at the southern border has led Republicans to blame Democratic policies for crimes illegal immigrants commit in the U.S. – including the recent murder of Riley.

'Laken Riley was murdered because of Joe Biden's open-border policies,' Republican House Whip Rep. Tom Emmer told DailyMail.com.

Republican House Whip Tom Emmer (pictured on Ash Wednesday) told DailyMail.com that President Joe Biden's border policies are to blame for the murder of nursing student Laken Riley, 22

Murdered nursing student Laken Riley suffered a disfigured skull after being beaten to death by illegal Venezuelan immigrant

'Accountability should start with the Biden administration undoing the 64 executive actions that effectively opened our borders and created this deadly crisis in the first place,' the Minnesota lawmaker added.

Both Biden and Trump are visiting Texas on Thursday as the border swiftly became one of the biggest issues in the 2024 election.

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and other immigration officials have long said they are overwhelmed at the border. Republicans want to hire more CBP agents.

Republican Sen. Tim Scott floated his previously proposed plan to redirect $15 billion Democrats wanted to use to fund a massive hire-up of Internal Revenue Service (IRS) agents to instead increase border security.

But House Republicans have maintained that fixes included in their already-passed border security bill (HR 2) would be sufficient to remedy challenges facing border officials. 

The House package would bring back a number of Trump-era immigration policies - including Remain in Mexico, which requires those claiming asylum to wait in Mexico while their U.S. asylum claim is processed.

The House-passed bill would also resume construction of the southern border wall, make it easier for minors who cross without their parents to be deported and allow for migrant families to be held in detention for a longer period of time, in hopes of ending 'catch and release' policies. 

President Biden promised to veto the legislation, though he won't get the opportunity to as it will not come up in the Democrat-led Senate.

ICE's Enforcement and Removal Operations arrested 73,822 migrants with criminal histories in Fiscal Year 2023 with each illegal immigrant averaging four crimes per suspect.

Venezuelan immigrant Jose Antonio Ibarra, 26, illegally entered the U.S. in 2022 and received border parole and was allowed to enter the country.

In New York, Ibarra was charged for allegedly acting in a manner injurious to a child and driving without a license before making his way to Georgia, where he now stands charged with murdering Riley.

Police arrested and charged Ibarra with malice murder, felony murder, aggravated battery, aggravated assault, false imprisonment, kidnapping, hindering a 911 call and concealing the death of another.

Ibarra's brother Diego, who is also an illegal immigrant, has three pending charges in Georgia before he was charged Friday with green card fraud after an interview with police in the search for Jose.

Former President Donald Trump says it's Biden's fault the nursing student was murdered and pointed to the president's lax policies at the southern border and massive influxes at the border since he took office.

Jose Antonio Ibarra, 26, was identified and charged for allegedly murdering nursing student Laken Riley, 22. The Venezuelan migrant lives near Athens with illegal status

Donald Trump blamed President Joe Biden's 'border invasion' for the murder a University of Georgia nursing student. Pictured: Trump visits a part of his wall at the southern border in Alamo, Texas on January 12, 2021

Laken Riley, 22, was on a jog Thursday when her roommate reported her missing. Her body was found in a wooded area near Lake Herrick in Athens, Georgia

Trump said in a Truth Social post on Monday that if president again he would 'begin the largest deportation operation of illegal criminals in American history'

Riley was a nursing student at the University of Georgia. She went for a jog last week and was reported missing by her roommate when she did not return. Her body was found in a wooded area near Lake Herrick.

Riley's family responded to her murder by asking for prayers and privacy in a statement to Fox News.

'Crooked Joe Biden's Border INVASION is destroying our country and killing our citizens!' Trump lamented in a Truth Social post on Monday.

'The horrible murder of 22-year-old Laken Riley at the University of Georgia should have NEVER happened!' he added. 'The monster who took her life illegally entered our Country in 2022…and then was released AGAIN by Radical Democrats in New York after injuring a CHILD!!'

Ibarra is being held at the Athens-Clarke County Jail. The 26-year-old is not an American citizen but resides near Athens, Georgia. A judge denied bond on Saturday morning.

The latest just goes to bolster claims from Republicans that with such a large flow of migration over the border, it's impossible to know for sure who is being let live in the country for months and years on end while they await asylum proceedings.

The border has over the last several years become a No. 1 issue for Americans, especially Republicans and pro-Trump subsets of the party.

Trump has promised the ' largest deportation' in U.S. history of illegal immigrants if he becomes president again in 2024.

Meanwhile, Biden is scrambling to address the issue before November.

Reports emerged that Biden is considering taking executive action at the border that would create more strict standards for claiming asylum and allow for an expedited deportation process of illegal crossers.

Democrats and progressives complain this is too similar to what Trump was doing at the border during his time in office.

Biden is visiting the southern border in Texas on Thursday, which the White House announced after Trump said he was also going to the border state that day. 

President Biden is visiting the southern border on Thursday – the same day Trump will be in Eagle Pass also visiting a popular crossing point along the Texas border with Mexico

'When I am your President, we will immediately Seal the Border, Stop the Invasion, and on Day One, we will begin the largest deportation operation of illegal CRIMINALS in American History!' Trump wrote in his post. 'May God Bless Laken Riley and her family!!! Our prayers are with you!'

Biden's southern border state visit this week is in Brownsville, Texas, where the president will meet with U.S. Border Patrol agents, law enforcement and local leaders.

Trump's Thursday visit will be about 300 miles from Biden to the northwest along the border with Mexico in Eagle Pass, Texas.

Under Biden, record numbers of migrants have crossed over the southern border.

There were a record number of migrant encounters in December when Customs and Border Protection (CBP) reported a new high of 301,983 crossings in a single month. This number does not include the gotaways – or those who evaded detection by border authorities.