The mother of Laken Riley, the 22-year-old Georgia nursing student killed by an illegal immigrant in 2024, thanked President Donald Trump for honoring her daughter.
“You have said, from the beginning, literally the day after this happened, that you would not forget about Laken,” Allyson Phillips said on Monday at the White House.
“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.”
Laken Riley was murdered by an illegal immigrant while on a run at the University of Georgia on Feb. 22, 2024. Her killing spurred the passage of the Laken Riley Act, which mandates the federal detention of illegal immigrants.
Trump held an Angel Families Remembrance Ceremony Monday at the White House on the two-year anniversary of Riley’s death.
Phillips said Trump has been doing a “thankless job” in getting justice for Angel Families, or families who are victims of crimes by illegal immigrants.
“There are just not enough words to say, because if you lived the nightmare that we have lived, you understand the importance of the job that he’s doing and securing our nation and fighting for our families because this could be any family,” she said.
“This happened to my family. This could be any one of your families.”
Phillips said her daughter was “the most responsible, hard-working, kind, selfless, beautiful Christian.”
“She didn’t make bad choices,” Phillips said. “She was just a good girl, and she just wanted to go for a run that morning after she’d gotten up at four o’clock the morning before to decorate her roommate’s door for her birthday, and she did everything for everyone else.”
“She expected nothing in return,” she continued. “She just wanted to be a good friend and a good sister and a good daughter and a hard working nurse, she was working so hard, and I’m beyond blessed and thankful that you’re honoring not just Laken, because she’s one of a ton of people that have suffered at the hands of illegal immigrants.”
Trump signed the Laken Riley Act into law last year, the very first bill signing of his second term.
