Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in New York City last week arrested members of the Torren de Aragua gang they first encountered at the border two years ago.
ICE officials said the local sanctuary jurisdiction had stopped Javier Jose Albornoz Marchan, 22, from arresting detainees before his recent arrest on Staten Island despite a pattern of criminal behavior. He was ignored and returned to society.
“Conservancy jurisdictions undermine public safety and put communities at unnecessary risk,” said Kenneth Gennaro, director of ERO's New York City field office.
“It is unconscionable that this felon was allowed to roam free in New York for the past three weeks when he could have been arrested immediately upon release from local custody.”
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Last week, a multiple-arrest Venezuelan was arrested after local authorities ignored two separate ICE detainees. (Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images)
Albornoz, a Venezuelan national, was one of eight illegal immigrants arrested in the Bronx on March 27 on weapons and drug-related crimes, ICE officials announced. He was convicted of criminal possession of a firearm by the Bronx County Supreme Court.
U.S. Border Patrol first encountered Albornoz near El Paso, Texas, on Sept. 22, 2022, according to a news release. Albornoz was released to the United States because the El Paso detention center did not have the capacity to hold him.
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Border Patrol agents pick up a group of asylum seekers from a relief camp on the U.S.-Mexico border near Sasabe, Arizona, on Wednesday, March 13, 2024. Border Patrol first encountered Albornoz in 2022 in El Paso, Texas, according to ICE. . (Justin Hummel/Getty Images)
The first subsequent encounter with law enforcement occurred on June 18, 2023, when the Moonakee Police Department arrested Albornoz on suspicion of shoplifting. Teterboro City Court sent Albornoz's case back to a lower court and released him three days later.
On January 6, 2024, Albornoz was arrested again by the Woodbridge, New Jersey Police Department on charges of shoplifting and manufacturing burglary tools. ICE's Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) ordered Albornoz into immigration detention on January 8, but local authorities in North Brunswick ignored the detainer and released him from custody without notifying ERO. officials said.
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Police patrol outside an immigrant shelter in Brooklyn, New York City, July 21, 2023. (Spencer Pratt/Getty Images)
Albornoz was arrested again by the NYPD on March 27, this time for second-degree criminal possession of a weapon. Second-degree criminal possession of a weapon: loaded firearm on school property. criminal possession of a controlled substance with intent to sell; Any act that harms a child under 17 years of age.
On April 1, ERO applied for Albornoz's second immigration detention at the New York Department of Corrections on Rikers Island, according to the statement.
Mr. Albornoz was found guilty of possession of a firearm on September 5 and sentenced to six months in prison. However, ICE said he was released again without notification to ERO, even though he is an active detainee.
A few weeks later, on September 27, the FBI task force alerted ERO in New York City to possible threats Mr. Albornoz had made against local police and asked for assistance in locating and arresting Mr. Albornoz. . He was taken into ICE custody the next day.
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Gennaro criticized New York City and state leaders' sanctuary policies and called for allowing local law enforcement to work with ICE to remove criminal aliens.
“Thankfully, due to the due diligence of our brave officers and law enforcement partners, this individual was quickly apprehended and the possibility of him reoffending was ruled out,” he said.
