WASHINGTON DC—On February 23, the anniversary of the death of Laken Riley, President Trump signed a proclamation naming today National Angel Family Day her memory and the memory of the other lives lost at the hands of criminal illegal aliens through violence and drug trafficking.
“We stand with the Angel Families, many of whom continue to be left without justice,” President Trump stated.
The following came directly [in-part] from the proclamation, the full text of which may be found on the White House webpage.
“After returning to office, I received a letter from a New York City police officer that filled the First Lady and me with tremendous sadness and anger. He wrote to the White House about one of the most unconscionable of these derelictions in recent memory — the murder of Laken Riley.
In 2022, a Venezuelan man named Jose Ibarra was caught crossing the Southern Border illegally and released into our country by the Biden Administration.
A year later, this NYPD officer personally witnessed Ibarra endanger a child on the streets of New York and arrested him.
The officer was shocked to learn that, shortly thereafter, New York City, a (so-called) sanctuary jurisdiction — released Ibarra back into the community before Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) could issue a detainer for his removal.
Ibarra then fled to Georgia and, just a few months later, brutally murdered a beautiful young American named Laken Riley.
Stories like this officer’s, whose diligence should have prevented Laken’s murder, and heartbreaking losses suffered by countless other Angel Families, strengthen my resolve to fix the illegal immigration crisis with ferocious energy.”
President Trump reminded his supporters too, that the first bill he signed into law when he started his second term, was the Laken Riley Act.
“In Laken’s memory, this commonsense law mandates the detention and deportation of illegal alien criminals and allows States to sue the Federal Government when politicians fail to enforce immigration laws…. But there is still so much work to do.
I am also calling on the Congress to pass Kate’s Law — legislation that imposes stronger penalties on individuals who illegally re-enter the United States after being deported…
We will never forget the victims, we stand with the families who endure this permanent hole in their lives, and we will never stop fighting to protect our people and our homeland.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, DONALD J. TRUMP, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim February 22, 2026, as National Angel Family Day
.
I call on the American people to assemble in their respective places of worship to pay homage to the victims killed by illegal aliens and to those taken by the fentanyl epidemic and lift-up the Angel Families and families devastated by drug overdoses.
I further call upon public officials, community leaders, and all citizens to end the violence and lawlessness that have claimed so many innocent lives.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-third day of February, in the year of our Lord two thousand twenty-six, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and fiftieth.” — President Donald J. Trump
