Donald Trump signs Laken Riley Act, says he'll send ‘worst criminal aliens’ to Guantanamo

US President Donald Trump signed the Laken Riley Act into law on Wednesday, giving federal authorities more power to deport illegal immigrants in the US who have been accused of crimes.

While signing Laken Riley Act, Donald Trump also announced that his administration planned to send the “worst criminal aliens” to a detention center in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

The bipartisan act, the first piece of legislation approved during Trump’s second term, was named for Riley, a 22-year-old Georgia nursing student who was slain last year by a Venezuelan man in the US illegally.

Telling the audience who Laken Riley was, Trump said, “She was a light of warmth and kindness." Riley’s parents and sister were present at the ceremony. “It’s a tremendous tribute to your daughter what’s taking place today, that’s all I can say. It’s so sad we have to be doing it," he said.

He said, "Under the law I am signing today, the Department of Homeland Security will be required to detain all illegal aliens who had been arrested for graft, burglary, shoplifting, assaulting a police officer, murder or any crime that results in death or serious injury..." he said.

Trump promised to drastically increase deportations, but he also said at the signing that some of the people being sent back to their home countries couldn't be counted on to stay there.

“We have 30,000 beds in Guantanamo to detain the worst criminal aliens threatening the American people,” the US president said.

“Some of them are so bad that we don’t even trust the countries to hold them because we don’t want them coming back, so we’re gonna send ’em out to Guantanamo,” Trump said. He said that he'd direct federal officials to get facilities in Cuba ready to receive immigrant criminals.

The White House announced a short time later that Trump had signed a presidential memorandum on Guantanamo. Migrant rights groups quickly expressed dismay.

“Guantanamo Bay’s abusive history speaks for itself and in no uncertain terms will put people’s physical and mental health in jeopardy,” Stacy Suh, program director of Detention Watch Network, was quoted by the Associated Press as saying.

Trump said the move would double US detention lockup capacities, and Guantanamo is “a tough place to get out of.”

The Guantanamo facility could hold “dangerous criminals” and people who are “hard to deport,” said a Trump administration official speaking on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly on the matter.

‘Act of brutality'

Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel said Trump wanting to ship immigrants to the island is “an act of brutality.” The US has leased Guantanamo land from Cuba for more than a century. Cuba opposes the lease and typically rejects the nominal US rent payments.

“The US government’s decision to imprison migrants at the Guantanamo Naval Base, in an enclave where it created torture and indefinite detention centers, shows contempt for the human condition and international law,” Rodriguez wrote in a post on X.

The Supreme Court ruled in 2008 that enemy combatants in the war on terror held without charge at the military prison at Guantanamo had the right to challenge their detention in federal court. But the justices did not decide whether the president had the authority to detain people at all.

Before Trump took office, the Democratic administrations of Barack Obama and Joe Biden worked to reduce the number of terrorism suspects held at Guantanamo.

Who was Laken Riley and what is Laken Riley Act

Laken Riley was out for a run in February 2024 when she was killed by Jose Antonio Ibarra, a Venezuelan national who was in the US illegally. Ibarra was found guilty in November and sentenced to life without parole.

Ibarra had been arrested for illegal entry in September 2022 near El Paso, Texas, and released to pursue his case in immigration court. Federal officials say he was arrested by New York police in August 2023 for child endangerment and released. Police say he was also issued a citation for shoplifting in Georgia in October 2023.

The act quickly passed the newly Republican-controlled Congress with some Democratic support even though opponents said it possibly could lead to large roundups of people for offenses as minor as shoplifting.

Under the new law, federal officials would have to detain any immigrant arrested or charged with crimes such as theft or assaulting a police officer, or offenses that injure or kill someone.

State attorneys general could sue the US government for harm caused by federal immigration decisions — potentially allowing the leaders of conservative states to help dictate immigration policy set by Washington.

(With inputs from agencies)