More than 17,500 illegal immigrants in 2025 have been arrested for crimes that trigger mandatory detention under the Laken Riley Act, the first law President Donald Trump signed in his second term.
The law is named for Laken Riley, a Georgia college student who was murdered by a Venezuelan illegal immigrant who had previously been arrested and released before her death.
Under the act, illegal immigrants who are arrested — even if they have not yet been convicted — for certain offenses must be held for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention and processing.
Qualifying crimes include theft-related offenses, DUI or DWI, and a range of violent crimes such as murder, rape, sexual abuse, assault on police, and firearms-related infractions.
On Monday, Secretary Kristi Noem said the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) had wrapped up “Operation Angel’s Honor,” a two-week nationwide effort launched in Riley’s name to target offenders covered by the Laken Riley Act.
According to Noem, the operation averaged dozens of arrests per day.
“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,” Noem told Fox News Digital.
Noem credited Trump with expanding DHS’s ability to pursue criminal illegal immigrants in the U.S., including those she said were “unleashed” into the interior by previous administrations.
“We can never bring Laken back, but we can do everything in our power to bring these heinous criminals to justice,” Noem said.
DHS highlighted several people it said were arrested during “Operation Angel’s Honor,” including:
- Sergio Luis Hernandez Gonzalez (Cuba): convicted on 17 counts of larceny, two counts of selling cocaine, plus vehicle theft and other offenses.
- Jersson Andrey Poveda Delgado (Colombia): convicted of assaulting a police officer.
- Yaser Garcia Ramirez (Dominican Republic): charged with conspiracy to manufacture and distribute heroin, domestic violence, and obstruction of law enforcement.
- Santos Chim-Diego (Guatemala): convicted of resisting and assaulting an officer, DUI, and child cruelty.
- Hamid Abdulimam Al Nassar (Iraq): convicted of procuring a prostitute who is a minor, multiple drug offenses, fraud, embezzlement, and aggravated assault.
- Nathaniel Sterling (Jamaica): detained after convictions for carnal abuse, weapons possession, and disorderly conduct.
- Omar Barojas-Arenas (Mexico): arrested under the act after a kidnapping conviction.
- Jorby Joel Escuraina-Suarez (Venezuela): convicted of aggravated assault with a weapon.
Critics, however, argue the law can sweep in people who do not pose a public-safety threat, noting it can be triggered by an arrest rather than a conviction.
“This bill does nothing to improve safety or fix our broken immigration system,” said Nayna Gupta, policy director for the American Immigration Council.
“Under the guise of preventing violence, the bill forces immigration officers to indefinitely detain and deport non-citizens who pose no public safety risk, without access to basic due process,” she said in a statement after the law passed.
“The bill also gives state attorneys general unprecedented power over immigration policy. The bill strips people of their basic rights and upends how the U.S. government enforces immigration law,” Gupta concluded.
