Laken Riley Act unleashes feds to hunt Venezuelan gang members in Florida: lawmaker

Under the newly enacted Laken Riley Act, 14 illegal immigrants, including suspected members of the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang, were taken off the streets by federal law enforcement in Florida last week. 

Video shared by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Miami, which works in tandem with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), shows criminal aliens being arrested at their homes during a three-day operation. Those arrested have been accused of crimes including sexual assaults on a minor and gang activity with Tren de Aragua, HSI Miami said in a post on X.

"As part of its routine operations, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrests aliens who commit crimes and other individuals who have violated our nation’s immigration laws," an ICE spokesperson told Fox News Digital in a statement Wednesday. "All aliens in violation of U.S. immigration law may be subject to arrest, detention and, if found removable by final order, removal from the United States, regardless of nationality." 

The arrests of the criminal aliens were a product of the Laken Riley Act, the first bill by the 119th Congress that President Donald Trump signed into law in late January. The law was named after Riley, a 22-year-old nursing student in Georgia who was killed by an illegal immigrant on Feb. 22, 2024.

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Under that law, ICE can detain new categories of illegal immigrants who are considered public safety risks who would not have previously been detained by ICE. 

Rep. Mike Collins, R-Ga., was the primary sponsor of the bill.  

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"After the Laken Riley Act failed in the 118th Congress, I made a promise to the family of Laken Riley that I would fight just like she did to make sure that we got the Laken Riley Act passed into law so her name could live on in the lives she saves," Collins told Fox News Digital.

"I could not be happier that President Trump made the Laken Riley Act the first bill he signed in his second administration so that there would be no waiting in getting these dangerous criminals off the streets and away from innocent Americans." 

"Tren de Aragua gang members have no place in our country, and I’m glad I could play my part in sending them back to where they came," said Collins. "Criminals need to know: the days of raping and pillaging our country with no consequences are over — Laken Riley made sure of that."

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The law’s name honors Riley, an Augusta University nursing student who was murdered while on a jog on the University of Georgia's campus. Her killer, Venezuelan illegal alien Jose Ibarra, had previously been arrested in the U.S. but was never detained by federal immigration authorities. He was convicted of Riley's murder in November and sentenced to life in prison.  

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Meanwhile, Tren de Aragua has recently wreaked havoc across the U.S.

Though it has been on the radar of federal law enforcement in recent years, the group exploded into notoriety last year when a surveillance video showing several members kicking down the door of an apartment in Aurora, Colorado, went viral. Gang members were accused of terrorizing residents and taking over the apartment complex. 

Tren de Aragua began as a prison gang in Venezuela about a decade ago, but has risen to an international criminal enterprise that deals in murder and human and drug trafficking, eliciting comparisons to MS-13, formerly the most dominant Central American gang.