Jose Ibarra, who entered the U.S. illegally​, is charged with murder in the February killing, which helped fan the immigration debate during this year's presidential campaign.

The trial of an undocumented immigrant accused of killing nursing student Laken Riley - whose name became a conservative rallying cry in the border security debate during the US election - has begun in the US state of Georgia.

In the nine months since Laken Riley was killed while jogging at the University of Georgia, her death turned into a lightning rod over crime and illegal immigration and cast an ominous shadow over the college town of Athens.

A man on trial for the murder of Laken Riley was out “hunting for females” on the University of Georgia campus when he came across the 22-year-old on her morning jog and killed her, a court heard on Friday.

Jose Ibarra is charged with murder and other crimes in the February killing of Laken Hope Riley, whose body was found on the University of Georgia Campus. Ibarra waived his right to a jury trial, meaning his case will be heard and decided by Athens-Clarke County Superior Court Judge H. Patrick Haggard.

Prosecutors claim Jose Ibarra, 26, attacked the Augusta University nursing student, hitting her head and asphyxiating her with the plan to sexually assault her.

Prosecutors said the suspect, Jose Ibarra, who is linked to the Tren de Aragua gang, was out “hunting for females” on Feb. 22 when he targeted Riley, 22, while she was jogging.

The judge who will decide the fate of an undocumented migrant accused of killing Georgia nursing student Laken Riley is a no-nonsense, silvery-white-haired jurist whose father was killed in an armed robbery.

The body of the 22-year-old was found on the University of Georgia campus after a friend told police she had not returned from her morning run.

The case was swept up in the debate over immigration after investigators said the perpetrator was a migrant from Venezuela who entered the U.S. illegally.