Trump Torches ‘Sick’ Democrats Who Ignore Americans Murdered By Illegal Immigrants

President Donald Trump ripped the “sick” legacy media and Democratic Party for ignoring the families of Americans killed by illegal immigrants, officially declaring February 22 “National Angel Family Day” to recognize the families of those whose lives were taken by criminals who entered the country illegally.

Trump addressed the Angel Families at the White House on Monday, one day after the second anniversary of the murder of Laken Riley. Trump’s proclamation on Monday also recognized Jocelyn Nungaray and Rachel Morin, who were killed by illegal immigrants, and Matthew Denice, Sarah Root, and Ivory Smith, who were killed by drunk drivers who entered the country illegally.

“We’re willing to tell the story,” Trump said of Riley’s life and tragic murder. “I don’t know why the news doesn’t want to hear it. The Democrats don’t want to hear it, the radical Left, they don’t want to hear it. What’s not to hear? We want to stop murderers and criminals from coming into our country.”

“I watch the mayor of Minneapolis, I watch these people saying we want to protect murderers. I don’t get it … there’s something sick. We can’t have a country like that,” he added.

Riley’s mother, Allyson Phillips, addressed the room full of reporters, Trump administration officials, and Angel Families, and thanked Trump for his work to crack down on illegal immigration and recognize the Americans killed by people who illegally crossed the border.

“You have said from the beginning, literally the day after [Riley’s murder], that you would not forget about Laken,” Phillips said. “You weren’t president at that time, and you have not forgotten. You have fought a fight that most people would not want to have to fight.”

Riley, 22, was brutally stabbed to death while out for a run on the University of Georgia campus on February 22, 2024. Riley’s murderer, 26-year-old Jose Ibarra from Venezuela, illegally entered the United States under the Biden administration in 2022. Ibarra was arrested for endangering a child on a scooter in New York shortly after entering the United States, but New York authorities released him from custody before Immigration and Customs Enforcement could lodge a detainer.

The former NYPD officer who arrested Ibarra for child endangerment in 2023 also spoke at the White House on Monday, saying, “I did my job. I put him in custody, but the system failed. No detainer. No accountability. No deportation. And an innocent American life was taken.”

Trump vowed to continue to crack down on Democrat-run “sanctuary cities.”

“They protect criminals with a vengeance,” he said, adding, “There’s something wrong with them.”

Trump’s event honoring the families of Americans killed by illegal immigrants comes one day before he delivers his State of the Union address, where he will likely focus much of his time on touting his work to crack down on illegal immigration. Trump said during the White House press conference that his State of the Union address would be “a long speech because we have so much to talk about.”

Trump’s immigration policy has been one of his top priorities since returning to the White House last year. As Trump has effectively shut down illegal immigration at the southern border and moved to deport illegal immigrants, Democrats have raged against Trump’s policy, especially his large ICE operations in cities such as Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., and Minneapolis.

After Minneapolis residents Renee Good and Alex Pretti were shot and killed by federal agents last month, Democrats ramped up their efforts to oppose federal immigration enforcement, with some Democratic lawmakers calling for ICE to be “abolished” and suggesting that ICE agents are terrorists and murderers.

As anti-ICE demonstrations continued in Minneapolis earlier this month, Trump sent his border czar, Tom Homan, to Minnesota to talk with the state’s Democratic leaders. After meeting with Governor Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, Homan announced the end of ICE’s immigration surge in the state and said that local Minnesota officials agreed to cooperate with federal authorities.