The Department of Homeland Security said more than 21,400 unauthorized immigrants charged or convicted of crimes have been arrested and detained under the Laken Riley Act in the year since the law was enacted.
The measure, signed Jan. 29, 2025, expanded mandatory detention for certain noncitizens accused of crimes, including burglary, theft, larceny, shoplifting, assault of a law enforcement officer, or offenses resulting in death or serious bodily injury, according to the statute.
DHS and allied outlets highlighted recent custody cases involving nationals from multiple countries, including a Cuban man identified as Sergio Luis Hernandez Gonzalez, described by officials as having a lengthy criminal record, as well as arrests involving convictions ranging from drug offenses to violent felonies.
The law is named for Laken Riley, the 22-year-old nursing student killed while jogging near the University of Georgia campus on Feb. 22, 2024; Jose Ibarra was convicted in November 2024 and sentenced to life without parole, and is now seeking a new trial, according to court coverage.
Ibarra had a prior encounter with New York City police in 2023 involving a scooter/moped incident with a child passenger, according to local reporting and contemporaneous accounts.
“Thank you, President Trump, for signing the Laken Riley Act,” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said in a statement.
“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,” Noem added.
“Now, these criminals will face justice and be removed from our country.”
Exclusive | More than 20K criminal illegal migrants arrested since passage of Laken Riley Act: officials https://t.co/zUJ7XTIERL pic.twitter.com/TOp5ErxgsK
— New York Post (@nypost) January 29, 2026
