OAN Staff Cory Hawkins
1:44 PM – Friday, December 26, 2025
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) apprehended and arrested more than 17,500 criminal illegal aliens under the Laken Riley Act, as reported by the department this week.
President Donald Trump signed the bipartisan Laken Riley Act into law on January 29th in honor of slain 22-year-old Laken Hope Riley, a nursing student from Georgia who was sexually assaulted and brutally murdered by an illegal alien from Venezuela while on a jog.
Several Democrats were very supportive of the bill, with Senator John Fetterman (D-Pa.) and Senator Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) being among the most vocal and proactive in co-sponsoring the legislation in the Senate.
Jose Antonio Ibarra, the Venezuelan national responsible for Riley’s death, was not only in the country illegally — he was also a member of Tren de Aragua (TdA) — a designated foreign terrorist organization (FTO) and a specially-designated global terrorist by the U.S. State Department.
After being apprehended by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) in September 2022, during the Biden administration, Ibarra was released into the U.S.
“He was previously arrested by NYPD for acting in a manner to injure a child less than 17 and released back into American neighborhoods. He then went on to commit the heinous murder of Laken Riley,” a DHS statement noted.
The Laken Riley Act mandates the DHS to detain illegal aliens who have been arrested for, charged, or admitted to crimes such as theft, burglary, shoplifting, assault, or any offense causing death or injury. Mandatory detention pending deportation proceedings, even without a conviction in some cases, is required.
Since Ibarra had previously been arrested by the NYPD, his release into the U.S. made him eligible for detention under this law, as he was unlawfully present and had subsequently been accused of committing a crime, and later, murder.
Operation Angels Honor, a 14-day nationwide ICE operation that concluded in December, claimed a large portion of these arrests.
“In honor of Laken Riley, ICE launched Operation Angel’s Honor – in the last 2 weeks alone arresting more than 1,000 criminal illegal aliens under the authority of the Laken Riley Act.” said Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. “President Trump has empowered us to arrest and remove the millions of violent criminal illegal aliens unleashed on the United States by the previous administration.
Now, these criminals will face justice and be removed from our country. We can never bring Laken back, but we can do everything in our power to bring these heinous criminals to justice. I am so proud of what our brave men and women of ICE have done to remove these criminals from America’s streets,” DHS Secretary Kristi Noem stated.
The Laken Riley Act has since faced criticism from a number of groups, however, including from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).
The ACLU argues that the legislation exploits the nursing student’s death to escalate a “false, xenophobic narrative about immigrants.” ACLU’s Deputy Director of Policy and Government Affairs for the Equality Division, Sarah Mehta, also emphasized that she fears the bill boosts Trump’s mass deportation efforts.
“It will force immigration authorities to detain individuals accused of nonviolent theft offenses like shoplifting regardless of whether or not law enforcement even deems them as a threat,” Mehta said.
The Executive Office of the President (EOP) announced its support of the Laken Riley Act in a January statement.
The EOP is a group of agencies and offices that support President Trump in governing, managing the federal bureaucracy, and implementing policy, overseen by the White House Chief of Staff, with key components including the White House Office, National Security Council, and Office of Management and Budget — all working to carry out the President’s agenda.
“This commonsense legislation would provide law enforcement with the tools they need to protect our communities and prevent future senseless tragedies, and is consistent with the administration’s broader efforts to strengthen enforcement of our immigration laws and improve the security of the nation’s borders,” a statement read.
A number of separate operations have also been carried out to rid illegal aliens off the street and out of the country. Chicago and the Midwest saw Operation Midway Blitz, resulting in the arrests of more than 4,500 illegal aliens, and in Portland, Organ, Operation Black rose led to more than 1,240 aliens arrested.
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