Federal agents have arrested and detained almost 20,000 dangerous illegal aliens under the Laken Riley Act, a bill named for the nursing student murdered by an illegal alien caught and released at the border by Joe Biden’s administration.
And in a recent operation launched in Riley’s honor, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced, agents collared more than 1,000 illegals in the last two weeks.
The murder of Riley put the Biden administration’s unlawful policy of catching and releasing dangerous illegals at the border — which invited the impeachment of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas — under a microscope.
The Law
GOP Representative Mike Collins of Georgia introduced the bill in the U.S. House in March 2024 after Riley’s murder on February 22; 170 Democrats voted against it.
In January 2025, it showed up again in the hopper and passed the House 263-156. The Senate vote was 64-35. Just 58 Democrats voted for the bill to keep illegal-alien thugs such as Jose Ibarra, who murdered Riley, off the streets.
President Donald Trump signed the bill on January 29.
The bill declares as inadmissible any illegal who “is charged with, is arrested for, is convicted of, admits having committed, or admits committing acts which constitute the essential elements of any burglary, theft, larceny, shoplifting, or assault of a law enforcement officer offense, or any crime that results in death or serious bodily injury to another person.”
The bill requires the secretary of Homeland Security to detain the illegal, and permits states to sue the federal government if a detainable alien commits crimes. As well, states can sue for an alien released into the country who commits a crime.
Riley’s Murderer
“Laken was attacked, viciously assaulted, beaten, brutalized, and murdered by an illegal alien gang member who was set loose into our country by the last Administration,” Trump correctly said when he signed the bill.
Sentenced to life in prison for murdering Riley, Jose Ibarra was a “Biden migrant” from central casting.
Caught jumping the border then released in 2022 on Biden’s long-standing orders, Ibarra made his way to New York, where he quickly landed in trouble with the law. But, of course, he faced no charges. Cops arrested him for harming a child, but that arrest was expunged. The Biden administration rewarded him with a work permit.
But that wasn’t enough help to get him to the scene of his crime. New York City taxpayers coughed up the fare for his plane ticket to Georgia.
He murdered Riley in Athens after he attacked her and dragged her off a jogging trail near the University of Georgia some time between 9:00 a.m. and 9:28 a.m. on February 22. That was when Riley’s smartwatch stopped detecting her heartbeat. Ibarra strangled her, tried to rape her, and smashed in her skull with a rock.
Ibarra claims that he wasn’t mentally competent to stand trial. In July, a judge agreed to permit him a mental evaluation. The Biden administration gave Americans a bonus by also catching and releasing Jose’s two criminal brothers at the border.
End of Biden’s Policy
Biden’s policy ended with Mayorkas’ impeachment for creating “a catch and release scheme, whereby such aliens are unlawfully released, even without effective mechanisms to ensure appearances before the immigration courts for removal proceedings or to ensure removal in the case of aliens ordered removed.” Mayorkas, the articles of impeachment alleged, “willfully and systemically refused to comply with the immigration laws” and unlawfully rewrote them. Result: The murder of Riley and others, including Kayla Hamilton, 21, and Jocelyn Nungaray, 12.
Despite all that, the vast majority of Democrats voted against the bill to ensure that illegal aliens arrested for crimes stay in detention. Indeed, their votes prove what Connecticut’s far-left Democratic Senator Chris Murphy famously said about illegals: They’re “the people we care about most.”
Many Arrested
Since President Trump signed the act almost a year ago, DHS reported on Christmas Eve, federal agents have arrested more than more than 17,500 dangerous illegals. DHS also reported the arrest of 1,030 illegal-alien criminals during the 14-day Operation Angel.
Among the people now in custody and whom Democrats care about most are these fine “undocumented immigrants,” who are here “to do the jobs Americans won’t do”:
- Cuban Sergio Luis Hernandez Gonzalez — burglary, dope dealer, “convicted of 17 counts of larceny;”
- Colombian Jersson Andrey Poveda Delgado — assault on a cop;
- Dominican Yaser Garcia Ramirez — vehicle theft, receiving stolen property, heroin peddler;
- Venezuelan Jorby Joel Escuraina-Suarez — aggravated assault with a weapon;
- Guatemalan Santos Chim-Diego — aggravated assault on a cop, drunk driving, child abuse, domestic violence;
- Jamaican Nathaniel Antoney Sterling — sexual assault, resisting arrest, domestic abuse, possession of a weapon;
- Mexican Omar Barojas-Arenas — burglary, kidnapping, drug possession;
- Iraqi Hamid Abdulimam Al Nassar — fraud, embezzlement, larceny, drug possession, procuring a minor prostitute, aggravated assault with a weapon;
- Cuban Avelino Lage-Caro — larceny, cocaine dealing and possession, possession of a weapon;
- Cuban Yorisane Lazo — homicide, strong-arm robbery;
- Indian Varun Datta — sexual assault, resisting an officer, drunk driving, shoplifting, trespassing, battery;
- Mexican Luz Brisseida Ramirez-Leal — cruelty toward a child; and,
- Mexican Antonio Quintana-Rodriguez — rape, illegal entry.
