National Angel Family Day, 2026

Proclamation 11013 of February 23, 2026

National Angel Family Day, 2026

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

On National Angel Family Day, we remember and honor the
thousands of American lives stolen from us by criminal
illegal aliens and the deadly drugs they bring across
our borders. We stand with the Angel Families, many of
whom continue to be left without justice. And we
recommit to carrying out the largest mass-deportation
effort in our Nation's history, getting the worst of
the worst out of our country, and putting a stop to the
violence targeting the brave men and women of law
enforcement.

Every year, thousands of American citizens are
victimized by dangerous and criminal illegal aliens,
often sent here by their home countries to get them out
of their prisons or off their own streets. After
returning to office, I received a letter from a New
York City police officer that filled the First Lady and
me with tremendous sadness and anger. He wrote to the
White House about one of the most unconscionable of
these derelictions in recent memory--the murder of
Laken Riley.

In 2022, a Venezuelan man named Jose Ibarra was caught
crossing the Southern Border illegally and released
into our country by the Biden Administration. A year
later, this NYPD officer personally witnessed Ibarra
endanger a child on the streets of New York and
arrested him. The officer was shocked to learn that,
shortly thereafter, New York City--a so-called
``sanctuary'' jurisdiction--released Ibarra back into
the community before Immigration and Customs
Enforcement (ICE) could issue a detainer for his
removal. Ibarra then fled to Georgia and, just a few
months later, brutally murdered a beautiful young
American named Laken Riley.

Stories like this officer's, whose diligence should
have prevented Laken's murder, and heartbreaking losses
suffered by countless other Angel Families, strengthen
my resolve to fix the illegal immigration crisis with
ferocious energy.

The human cost of the migrant crime crisis is written
in the lives of Americans like Laken Riley, Jocelyn
Nungaray, and Rachel Morin, who were brutally attacked
and murdered by savage illegal aliens, and in the lives
of Matthew Denice, Sarah Root, and Ivory Smith, killed
by drunk-driving illegal aliens. Each of these lives
and countless others were stolen by criminal illegal
aliens who should have never been in our country. Each
of them was loved, full of promise, and taken far too
soon. These losses also include the thousands of
Americans who die each year by fentanyl trafficked
across the border by cartels and criminal illegal
aliens. That is the most tragic part of this crisis--
every life taken, every child trafficked, every
vehicular homicide, every drug-related death, and every
crime committed in this country by an illegal alien is
100 percent preventable.

On the second anniversary of Laken Riley's murder, we
remember her kindness and the promise of her young
life. While nothing can undo the pain her family has
suffered, I recommit to removing dangerous illegal
alien criminals from our Nation to prevent such
senseless tragedies from happening again. As President,
the first bill I signed into law was the Laken Riley
Act. In Laken's memory, this commonsense law mandates
the detention and deportation of illegal alien
criminals and allows States to sue the Federal

Government when politicians fail to enforce immigration
laws. In just the first 6 months of my term, I declared
a National Emergency at the Southern Border, reinstated
the Remain in Mexico policy, and deployed troops to the
Southern Border to stop the invasion of our country. I
also designated cartels as foreign terrorist
organizations, and by taking targeted strikes against
these narco-terrorists, we are halting the flow of
deadly drugs that have plagued our communities, stolen
countless American lives, and shattered families across
our Nation.

Following the passage of the historic One Big Beautiful
Bill in July, we are now executing the strongest
immigration overhaul in modern American history. This
landmark legislation unleashes a massive surge in
Homeland Security, ICE, and Border Patrol personnel,
authorizes the construction of hundreds of miles of new
border wall, and equips law enforcement with the tools
and resources they need to arrest and remove dangerous
illegal aliens from our streets and dismantle
trafficking networks.

The results are undeniable. The first quarter of fiscal
year 2026 recorded the lowest numbers of southwest
border apprehensions ever. Nationwide encounters are
down 92 percent from the monthly average under the
previous administration, and for the ninth consecutive
month, there have been zero releases along the
southwest border--zero. We have achieved the safest and
most secure border in American history. But there is
still much work to do.

We must end the violence against the brave men and
women of ICE and Border Patrol. The demonization of
these heroes by radical politicians must stop, and the
reckless sanctuary policies that shield criminal aliens
must end once and for all.

I am also calling on the Congress to pass Kate's Law--
legislation that imposes stronger penalties on
individuals who illegally re-enter the United States
after being deported, especially those previously
convicted of crimes. These actions are how we will stop
these tragic killings from happening time and time
again.

A Nation without strong borders is not truly a Nation,
and a people without justice can never be fully free.
We renew our duty to uphold the rule of law, secure our
borders, and deliver accountability for every American
killed by illegal aliens and for every Angel Family
forced to carry the unimaginable loss. We will never
forget the victims, we stand with the families who
endure this permanent hole in their lives, and we will
never stop fighting to protect our people and our
homeland.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, DONALD J. TRUMP, President of the
United States of America, by virtue of the authority
vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the
United States, do hereby proclaim February 22, 2026, as
National Angel Family Day. I call on the American
people to assemble in their respective places of
worship to pay homage to the victims killed by illegal
aliens and to those taken by the fentanyl epidemic, and
lift up the Angel Families and families devastated by
drug overdoses. I further call upon public officials,
community leaders, and all citizens to end the violence
and lawlessness that have claimed so many innocent
lives.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
twenty-third day of February, in the year of our Lord
two thousand twenty-six, and of the Independence of the
United States of America the two hundred and fiftieth.