Death of a tour guide in the French Quarter leads to increased scrutiny of border issues

The gunshot death of Kristie Thibodeaux initially made headlines because it occurred in the French Quarter, New Orleans’ oldest neighborhood and a place where residents of historic homes and owners of restaurants and clubs that rely on tourists have long worried about a resurgence in violent crime.

Then came the news that one of the three suspects in the armed robbery and shooting of the 43-year-old tour guide was a convicted minor whose ankle bracelet was malfunctioning. And then the revelation that another suspect was a 19-year-old Honduran citizen who had been in the country illegally since at least 2019.

“This man should never have been in Louisiana. Enough is enough,” Republican Governor Jeff Landry said on X shortly after the suspect’s immigration status became public.

Republicans in Louisiana have tried to blame President Joe Biden and his immigration policies, but the accused Honduran was detained by U.S. immigration authorities at the Texas border during Trump’s administration. And the case also exposed other failings in the justice system that go beyond border policy.

The broken ankle bracelet allowed the 15-year-old to live on the streets, and that mistake sparked bipartisan calls for reform of the state’s juvenile justice system. Attorney General Liz Murrill, a Republican ally of Landry, ordered an investigation into the juvenile court’s contracts for the ankle bracelets.

One of the suspects was a 17-year-old youth. The murder occurred at a time when cities across the United States are struggling with juvenile offenders who have easy access to weapons and are committing acts of violence and robberies.

Thibodeaux was shot and killed in the French Quarter while sitting in her car early on the morning of June 30. Police say the suspects had committed a series of robberies.

Brian Cain, owner of the travel company Crawl New Orleans, said Thibodeaux was one of his longest-serving employees – a lively, caring colleague who was popular with her colleagues and the tourists she served.

In the run-up to the Republican National Convention, immigrant crimes are becoming part of Trump’s political rhetoric. Trump claims that the influx of immigrants is leading to a rise in crime in the United States, even though statistics show that violent crime is actually declining.

Conservatives point to other recent killings in Texas and Georgia to bolster their point about border failures during the Biden administration. In February, Laken Hope Riley, a 22-year-old nursing student, was attacked and killed near running tracks on the University of Georgia campus. The suspect is a Venezuelan citizen who entered the U.S. illegally in 2022 and was allowed to stay, according to immigration officials. In Houston, 12-year-old Jocelyn Nungaray was found strangled and in a creek last month, and authorities have charged two Venezuelan men who entered the country illegally.

FBI statistics do not distinguish crimes based on the immigration status of the offender, nor is there evidence of an increase in crime committed by migrants, either on the U.S.-Mexico border or in cities with the largest influx of migrants, such as New York. Studies have found that people living in the country illegally are less likely to be arrested for violent, drug and property crimes than native-born Americans.

Immigration officials in New Orleans say it is not clear when, where or how Joshua Aviala-Bonifacio entered the country. He is a Honduran citizen and Immigration and Customs Enforcement says he was first encountered by Border Patrol near Hidalgo, Texas, in May 2019, when he was 15 years old.

According to ICE, he was released “on parole” on May 14, 2019. He later ended up in the New Orleans area, where he already has a criminal record.

“Bonifacio has been arrested multiple times for theft and inducement of juvenile delinquency,” ICE said in a statement. “Since February 2024, the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office has arrested Bonifacio for five local violations.”

He is now facing murder charges in connection with Thibodeaux’s death.

Cain sees numerous reasons for dissatisfaction with state, local and federal authorities and with the circumstances that led to the suspects being at large.

“If he is in the country illegally, then he should not be here. But most importantly, the local system has failed time and again, not only by letting him out on the streets, but also by failing to recognize that he was in fact in the country illegally.”

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