US Politics
Trump to announce ‘Angel Family Day’ alongside Laken Riley’s loved ones as public turns on ICE
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President Trump is set to announce an ‘Angel Family Day’ as he tries to revive public support for his deeply unpopular immigration crackdown.
At the event, which the New York Post reported would be held at 10 am at the White House on Monday, he will sign a proclamation designating February 22 as the day.
It will be a “solemn ceremony that reminds us all of why deportations of the worst of the worst must continue,” a White House official told the newspaper.
It comes a day before Trump’s State of the Union address, where he is once again expected to address the border situation and his ongoing plan to expel undocumented migrants from the country.
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That date has been chosen in memory of Laken Riley, a 22-year-old college student murdered by an undocumented migrant on February 22, 2024.
Trump and Republicans have long used Riley’s death to drive home their message about the supposed dangers posed by unchecked immigration.
The Laken Riley Act was the first bill signed by the president during his second term, requiring the Department of Homeland Security to detain “non-U.S. nationals” who have been arrested for burglary, theft, larceny or shoplifting.
Then-Rep. Marjorie Taylor-Greene attended then-President Joe Biden’s final State of the Union address in 2024 wearing a red MAGA hat and a shirt that said “Say Her Name,” referencing the 22-year-old nursing student.
Riley’s mother, Allyson Phillips, attended Trump’s State of the Union address last year and will be at Monday’s White House event.
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Also in attendance will be Patty Morin, the mother of Rachel Morin, who was killed by an undocumented El Salvadoran man while hiking in 2023; and Tammy Nobles, the mother of Kayla Hamilton, who was raped and murdered by an El Salvadoran teen in 2022.
“President Trump is proud to have delivered accountability for Angel Families by ushering in the most secure border in history, deporting the criminal illegal aliens let into our country by prior Administrations, and upholding the rule of law by strongly enforcing our immigration laws,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told the newspaper in a statement.
“The first bill President Trump signed into law was the Laken Riley Act to prevent these senseless tragedies from happening again and to keep innocent American citizens safe. The president and our nation will join Angel Families in honoring the memory of these amazing men and women.”
The president has repeatedly turned to crimes committed by undocumented migrants to justify and deflect from his immigration crackdown, which has caused chaos as federal officers attempt to detain anyone they suspect may not have legal status.
However, in their attempts to safeguard the nation, those federal officers have themselves caused multiple injuries and deaths, with American citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti gunned down by immigration enforcers during protests in Minneapolis.
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Last week, it was revealed that months earlier, another American citizen, Ruben Ray Martinez, had been shot dead by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers during a traffic stop in Texas.
Support for President Trump’s immigration policy has collapsed in recent months, with figures from last Tuesday’s Reuters/Ipsos poll showing only a third of Americans think he’s handling it well.
That polling was in line with other results, including a February Quinnipiac survey, in which 63 per cent of American voters disapproved of the way ICE was enforcing immigration laws, while just 34 per cent approved.
Almost three-quarters of Americans want to see ICE either reformed or abolished, according to additional polling from the NBC News Decision Desk earlier this month.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Border Czar Tom Homan, two top enforcers of the immigration crackdown, will attend Monday’s event for angel families.
