Jefferson Maldenado, a 31-year-old immigrant from Ecuador, has been arrested five times in New York City since arriving in the U.S. earlier this year.
His most recent arrest was for allegedly stealing pants and beer from a Target near Herald Square.
When asked why he committed the crime, the immigrant thief replied, “I just wanted to change my clothes and think.”
“I wanted to sit down and think about my life and what to do, because this is not a normal world.”
He was one of five immigrants in a Manhattan courtroom one night last week for their arraignment.
Across New York, recently arrived immigrants are flooding the criminal justice system at rates far higher than authorities are willing to admit.
Police sources told The Washington Post that immigrants make up a staggering 75% of people arrested in midtown Manhattan in recent months for assault, robbery, domestic violence and other offenses. In parts of Queens, local sources estimate the figure is more than 60%.
On any given day, New York's criminal court dockets are full of asylum seekers who have broken the law.
The problem is exacerbated by sanctuary city laws that prohibit the NYPD from working with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in cases where suspects are believed to be in the country illegally, and also prohibit the NYPD from tracking the immigration status of criminals.
This makes it nearly impossible for authorities to address the problem, experts and local sources say.
“New York City has eliminated the tools to weed out violent criminals. What a terrible situation,” Jim Quinn, a veteran former prosecutor in the Queens District Attorney's Office, told The Post.
“Sanctuary city laws are pathetic. They're terrible. They're insane.”
To make matters worse, police sources say rumors are spreading at the shelters about the city's loose bail guidelines, meaning migrants know that if they're arrested, they'll quickly be put back on the streets.
A City Hall spokesman noted that Mayor Eric Adams had previously asked the City Council to amend the sanctuary city law. Last week, Adams said, “At this time, we do not have the authority to coordinate with ICE. We must follow the law.”
The mayor's office also said the city is working with the Midtown Improvement Coalition to increase policing in the area.
An NYPD spokesman said overall crime has fallen so far this year compared to last, and “New Yorkers can trust the NYPD to continue to be vigilant in all our neighborhoods.”
However, the spokesperson also noted that the NYPD does not track data on immigration status because “officers are prohibited from asking about the immigration status of crime victims, witnesses or suspects.”
As a result, the only people who fully understand the scale of the problem are the police officers and court officials who see it every day.
“About 75 percent of arrests in Midtown Manhattan are immigrants, and most of them are for robbery, assault, domestic battery and selling counterfeit goods,” a Midtown police officer said.
He said the figure was an estimate and “not 100% certain.” [they’re migrants] Unless you arrest them at the shelter or they're stupid enough to give out the address of the shelter.”
Another Manhattan officer noted that excluding petty drugstore theft, immigrants “easily” make up 75 percent of local arrests, and that most of those caught shoplifting are targeting expensive, designer items.
“They're not interested in low-cost stores; they like Lululemon and Sunglass Hut,” he said, adding that immigrants account for “most” of the pickpockets and phone and chain snatching thefts the NYPD encounters.
The problem is also evident in Queens courts.
“Some days we have so much immigration caseload we have to call in additional Spanish interpreters,” a law enforcement official at Queens Criminal Court told The Post.
“Come on Monday! Nearly all the cases are immigrants,” said another court official.
While much of the crime is domestic and petty theft, some is far more heinous, including gang violence and brutal sexual assaults.
Venezuelan immigrant Yurrex Daniel Guzman Quintero was indicted in Queens Criminal Court on Aug. 28 on charges of vile sexual abuse against his girlfriend, choking her and holding a knife to her head, all in front of her child, according to court documents.
The same day, immigrant Dionisio Moran Flores was summoned to Manhattan Criminal Court on charges of raping his 5-year-old daughter and ordered held on $150,000 bail.
Meanwhile, the violent Venezuelan prison gang Tren de Aragua, which is armed and wreaking havoc across the US, has set up shop in New York City and has already been linked to hundreds of crimes, including the shooting deaths of two NYPD officers attempting to arrest one of its members in June.
These same thugs are arming themselves to further terrorize the city, smuggling guns into city-run shelters in food delivery bags to evade metal detectors.
“Most of the people we arrest are professionals and this is not their first crime,” one law enforcement official said.
The officer added that the Biden-Harris administration's lax border policies, combined with sanctuary city laws, have exacerbated the problem.
“A wall would significantly reduce crime, it would allow us to track down everyone who comes into the country,” the source said, “and more importantly, it would allow us to deport those who commit crimes.”
Some immigrants make multiple appearances in the city's jails and courts, and many are back on the streets committing crimes again just as quickly as they were caught.
“They don't care if they get arrested. They laugh if they get sent to Rikers. They get tortured in prison because of where they come from,” the Bronx police officer said.
He added that “most” of the people apprehended in the borough are migrants, but it's unclear whether they entered the country during a large wave of migration that began in the spring of 2022. About 64,000 migrants remain in the city's shelters and social welfare system.
Queens does not see as many immigration arrests as Manhattan, and one police officer estimates that “over 60 percent” of arrests in Jackson Heights are immigrants, with crimes including robbery, grand theft, and assault.
“Roosevelt and 91st Street look like a scene from Casablanca with all these stalls. You can buy food, clothes, toys, electronics, tools, you can even get your car washed,” an NYPD source said of the massive open-air bazaar that has sprung up along the sidewalk.
“This area has become a third world country. City hall doesn't seem to care about the taxpayers who live and work here.”
He said Elmhurst, particularly the area along Roosevelt Avenue, has seen a nearly 22 percent increase in crime compared to last year, much of it immigrant-related, making it the area with the second-highest crime increase citywide after Manhattan's Central Park.
Business owners and residents of Jackson Heights and Elmhurst said they have watched helplessly as their neighborhoods quickly transformed into crime-ridden slums.
“The sidewalk here keeps people from coming to the pharmacy,” said Jenny Leal, a pharmacist at Mi Farmacia on Roosevelt Street, pointing to a row of at least 50 kiosks set up just around the corner from her pharmacy.
“The number of prostitutes has doubled in the last two months. They are now acting like they are part of the community,” she said. “We see them every day and it seems like the same people are wearing the same clothes. It's really strange.”
City PBA president Patrick Hendry decried the out-of-control lawlessness that has taken root throughout the city and blamed the courts for not doing enough to combat it.
“Our justice system is already failing to protect New Yorkers and hold lawbreakers accountable, regardless of where they come from,” he said.
“But now there's a narrative going around that you can come to New York, commit a crime, attack a police officer and be released the next day. We need to change that message to keep dangerous people off our streets,” Hendry said.
Some immigrants who have been arrested multiple times say they have tried to make the right choice but found the U.S. too difficult.
“I walked through the woods, and I kept walking, to get to the American dream. They talk about the American dream, but when I got here, I realized it's not what they say it is. This is not an easy place. It's not a rose-colored world,” said Maldenado, an immigrant who was arrested for theft at Target.
Juan Bernal Rodriguez, 45, of Colombia, said he was arrested at LaGuardia Airport for allegedly stealing french fries.
He offered a mixed assessment of the city's shelter system, acknowledging that “help is available” at one of the complexes, but also lamenting theft by fellow immigrants.
“Life in the shelters is not always easy. They steal there. People steal your things,” he said.
The district attorneys' offices for Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn and the Bronx did not respond to The Post's requests for comment on Monday.
