ICE operation honoring Laken Riley yields more than 1,000 arrests

Lautaro Grinspan, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Dec 29, 2025

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An Immigration and Customs Enforcement operation staged over two weeks earlier this month yielded more than 1,030 arrests of unauthorized immigrants with criminal backgrounds across the country, the Trump administration announced Dec. 22.

The crackdown was dubbed “Operation Angel’s Honor” in reference to Laken Riley, a Georgia nursing student killed last year by a migrant from Venezuela.

“This operation, while a massive success, also serves as a solemn reminder of the profound impact that immigrant violence and crime can have on victims and their loved ones,” Todd Lyons, ICE acting director, said in a statement. “ICE’s mission is to ensure that no more Americans will fall victim to illegal alien crime.”

The administration’s announcement touting the results of Operation Angel’s Honor did not specify the states in which apprehended individuals were living. It spotlighted 18 arrestees: nationals of Mexico, Honduras, Colombia, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Peru and El Salvador who are accused of rape, assault, sexual exploitation of children, drug charges, burglary and food stamp fraud, among others.

According to ICE, the immigrants targeted by Operation Angel’s Honor were arrested under the authority of the Laken Riley Act — the first bill signed by Trump in his second term. It requires the detention of unauthorized immigrants accused of theft and violent crimes.

“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,” Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said. “Now, these criminals will face justice and be removed from our country.

“We can never bring Laken back, but we can do everything in our power to bring these heinous criminals to justice.”

Jose Ibarra, the man convicted in November 2024 of malice murder and related charges in the attack that left Riley dead near a wooded trail on the University of Georgia campus, had been arrested for illegally crossing the U.S.-Mexico border in 2022, before being paroled into the country. In October 2023, he was arrested in Athens for shoplifting but was not detained.

In its Dec. 22 news release, ICE described Ibarra as “a member of the terrorist criminal gang Tren de Aragua,” though it cited no evidence of that affiliation.

Last July, a judge ordered a mental competency evaluation for Ibarra as the Venezuelan national seeks to appeal his conviction. Ibarra’s defense is seeking to either vacate his sentence or secure a new trial.