Trump honors lives of Laken Riley, Jocelyn Nungaray while celebrating strides on securing border
President Donald Trump details the Laken Riley Act and how her death was the result of an open southern border during his address to a joint session of Congress.
President Donald Trump honored the lives of Laken Riley and Jocelyn Nungaray, who were both brutally killed by illegal immigrants under the Biden administration, during his address to a joint Congress on Tuesday.
“All three savages charged with Jocelyn and Laken’s murders were members of the Venezuelan prison gang, the toughest gang, they say, in the world known as Tren De Aragua. Two weeks ago, I officially designated this gang, along with MS-13 and the bloodthirsty Mexican drug cartels, as foreign terrorist organizations,” Trump said.
“They are now officially in the same category as ISIS, and that’s not good for them. Countless thousands of these terrorists were welcomed into the U.S by the Biden administration. But now, every last one will be rounded up and forcibly removed from our country. Or, if they’re too dangerous, put in jail, standing trial in this country, because we don’t want them to come back ever,” he said.
Trump declared during his speech that the U.S. “will never, ever forget our beautiful Laken Riley” through legislation he singed into law.
TEXAS POLITICOS LAUNCH FULL-COURT PRESS AGAINST HARRIS AHEAD OF HER BORDER STATE CAMPAIGN RALLY: ‘APOLOGIZE’
WASHINGTON, DC – MARCH 04: U.S. President Donald Trump arrives to address a joint session of Congress at the U.S. Capitol on March 04, 2025 in Washington, DC. U.S. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) and Vice President JD Vance applaud behind him. (Win McNamee/Pool via REUTERS)
“Laken was viciously attacked, assaulted. Beaten, brutalized, and horrifically murdered. Laken was stolen from us by a savage illegal alien,” Trump said during his speech.
Georgia nursing student Laken Hope Riley, 22, was discovered beaten to death last year after going for a run on the University of Georgia’s campus. The Augusta University student crossed paths with an illegal immigrant, Jose Antonio Ibarra.
Ibarra, a Venezuelan national, entered the U.S. illegally in 2022 and was granted border “parole,” which allows noncitizens to temporarily enter the country due to an emergency or humanitarian reason, authorities have said. Ibarra soon made his way up to New York City, where he was arrested in August and “charged with acting in a manner to injure a child less than 17 and a motor vehicle license violation,” according to ICE.
TRUMP SIGNS LAKEN RILEY ACT INTO LAW AS FIRST LEGISLATIVE VICTORY IN NEW ADMINISTRATION
Trump continued that Ibarra “was arrested while trespassing across Biden’s open southern border.”
President Donald Trump signs the Laken Riley Act during in the East Room of the White House, Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
“And then set loose into the United States under the heartless policies of that failed administration. It was indeed a failed administration. He had then been arrested and released in a Democrat run sanctuary city, a disaster, before ending the life of this beautiful young angel. With us this evening are Laken’s beloved mother, Alison, and her sister Lauren,” he said.
Trump signed the Laken Riley Act into law upon taking office for a second time in January, saying that the U.S. will never forget Riley through the law that directs Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to detain illegal immigrants arrested or charged with theft-related crimes, or those accused of assaulting a police officer.
Laken Riley poses for a photo posted to Facebook. Riley, a nursing student at the University of Georgia, was found dead near a lake on campus on Thursday, February 22, 2024. (Allyson Phillips/Facebook)
“Since taking office, my administration has launched the most sweeping border and immigration crackdown in American history. And we quickly achieved the lowest numbers of illegal border crossing ever recorded. … The media and our friends in the Democrat Party kept saying we needed new legislation. We must have legislation to secure the border. But it turned out that all we really needed was a new president,” he continued.
7.2M ILLEGALS ENTERED THE US UNDER BIDEN ADMIN, AN AMOUNT GREATER THAN POPULATION OF 36 STATES
Trump also remember the life of 12-year-old Jocelyn Nungaray, who was sexually assaulted and murdered by strangulation when two illegal immigrants in their 20s allegedly lured the young girl under a bridge before killing her in June of 2024.
Jocelyn Nungaray, 12, was found strangled to death in a Houston creek in June of this year. Venezuelan citizens Franklin Jose Peña Ramos, left, and Johan Jose Martinez-Rangel were charged her killing. (Fox Houston courtesy of the Nungaray family)
“Her precious Jocelyn walked to a nearby convenience store,” Trump said, speaking to the young girl’s mom, Alexis Nungaray. “She was kidnaped, tied up, assaulted for two hours under a bridge and horrifically murdered. Arrested and charged with this heinous crime are two illegal alien monsters from Venezuela, released into America by the last administration through their ridiculous open border. The death of this beautiful 12-year-old girl, and the agony of her mother and family touched our entire nation greatly.”
Trump said that he learned of the young girl’s love of nature while getting to know her family, and revealed that he renamed a wildlife refuge in Texas in honor of Jocelyn Nungaray.
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“Alexis, I promised that we would always remember your daughter, your magnificent daughter. And earlier tonight I signed an order keeping my word to you. One thing I have learned about Jocelyn is that she loved animals so much. She loved nature. Across Galveston Bay, from where Jocelyn lived in Houston, you will find a magnificent National Wildlife Refuge. A pristine, peaceful, 34,000-acre sanctuary for all of God’s creatures on the edge of the Gulf of America.”
“Alexis, moments ago, I formally renamed that refuge in loving memory of your beautiful daughter, Jocelyn,” he said.
Fox News Digital’s Diana Stancy contributed to this report.
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The US ‘will never, ever forget our beautiful Laken Riley,’ Trump says
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President Trump during a joint session of Congress in the House Chamber of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, March 4, 2025. Photo: Kent Nishimura/Bloomberg via Getty Images
President Trump renewed his ask for more funding to carry out his immigration agenda, including border security and “the largest deportation operation in American history” during his address to Congress Tuesday night.
Why it matters: Trump’s mass deportation plans are near-impossible to achieve without more money, which Democrats are likely to oppose. Trump Cabinet members, particularly border czar Tom Homan, have made a similar ask for weeks.
Zoom out: During the speech, Trump said he hoped to surpass the deportation record of “current record holder Dwight D. Eisenhower, a moderate man but someone who believed very strongly in borders” — a reference to Operation Wetback.
Zoom in: Trump made his case for more funding by repeating messages from the campaign trail, including falsehoods about migrants and immigration policy.
Reality check: There’s no evidence that immigrants trying to come into the country were from prisons and mental institutions.
Between the lines: Trump entered office at a time when U.S. immigration courts already are on pace to decide record numbers of deportation cases — and order the most removals in five years — under Biden’s push to fast-track asylum decisions.
The other side: Immigrant rights groups quickly denounced Trump’s rhetoric around “invasion” or immigrants coming from mental institutions.
In the Spanish language response, U.S. Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-NY) said Trump’s immigration policies are not designed to deport criminals who should be deported, “but to create a reign of terror that negatively impacts local economies.”
Editor’s note: This story has been updated with additional comment from Rep. Adriano Espaillat.
Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios
President Trump’s vow to deport “millions and millions” of unauthorized immigrants is meeting harsh reality — already stretching the limits of the government’s resources, less than four weeks into the new administration.
Why it matters: A lack of funds, detention space, officers and infrastructure to handle arrested immigrants is frustrating many involved in the effort — and made goals such as 1 million deportations this year seem unrealistic.
Copyright Axios Media, 2024
