Illegal migrant involved in Times Square police attack was ordered to be deported 1 year prior: report
At least four of the illegal migrants who swarmed and beat up two NYPD officers in a shocking Times Square attack in January were apprehended by federal law enforcement as far back as July 2022 but were released without being deported, according to an interim congressional report into the incident.
The report also goes on to blast the Biden-Harris administration's record on immigration.
One of the migrants, a suspected Tren de Aragua gang member, had already been ordered to be deported — and then left the country and returned again — before the brutal attack took place.
Another one of the migrants was caught trying to enter Canada illegally after running from U.S. authorities, having crossed the southern border but was still released. A third migrant suspect was also arrested for shoplifting two separate stores and assaulting two store workers months before the Times Square attack and was not ordered to be deported.
The shocking revelations are detailed in a report released on Wednesday by the Subcommittee on Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement, which is tasked with investigating the Jan. 27 caught-on-camera attack on a police lieutenant and officer. House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio and Subcommittee Chairman Tom McClintock, R-Calif, subpoenaed the files on the migrants from Homeland as part of the report.
The incident sparked widespread condemnation and was followed by one of the suspects flipping two middle fingers at reporters' cameras after he was released from police custody. It also drew sharp attention to the migrant crime surge, particularly in New York City, which has catered to housing tens of thousands of migrants at taxpayers' expense. The attack took place in a busy tourist spot close to a migrant shelter.
The report also revealed an apparent inadequate vetting process of migrants, which has led to around 617,000 criminal migrants roaming U.S. streets, and criticized Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg for agreeing to plea deals with the Times Square attackers while at the same time prosecting former President Donald Trump over hush money payments.
The committee, citing data from several agencies, says that more than 5.6 million illegal migrants have entered the country under the Biden-Harris administration, with another 1.9 million illegal alien "gotaways" escaping into the country during the same time.
"The results are all too predictable: cities overwhelmed, public services crushed, and communities shattered by the criminality of some illegal aliens," the report states.
Wilson Juarez-Aguilarte, Kelvin Servita Arocha, Darwin Gomez Izquiel and Yorman Yoel Riveron-Rivero all entered the country illegally during the Biden-Harris administration, per the report, and have been charged with assault on a police officer and obstructing a governmental investigation.
Two have since agreed to lenient plea deals with Bragg’s office and none have been deported, according to the New York Post.
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Juarez-Aguilarte, a Venezuelan national and suspected Tren de Aragua gang member, was ordered to be deported from the U.S. in February 2023, nearly a year before the Times Square attack. The report found that he crossed the southern border into Brownsville, Texas, in July 2022, refused to tell border agents why he left Venezuela and told border agents he was heading to Houston.
At some point, he left the U.S. and then re-entered the country in June 2023, near Champlain, New York, with a group of 14 other migrants — yet border agents released him again.
A Manhattan judge set his bail at $1 following the Times Square because the charges against him involved evidence tampering and not participating in the attack.
Servita-Arocha, an alleged Tren de Aragua gang member from Venezuela with tattoos that are "highly associated" with the gang, was apprehended about 10 miles from the northern border in January 2023 while walking with a group of eight other Venezuelan migrants in upstate New York. The group told border agents they "wanted to go to Canada" and had "illegally entered the United States from Mexico through Texas" a week earlier.
Border agents released him with a list of pro bono legal service providers.
A year later, he was one of four suspects arrested and released without bail over the attack. Bragg offered him a plea deal to serve six months in prison for pleading guilty to obstructing a government administration.
Gomez Izquiel, also a Venezuelan national, entered the U.S. illegally near Brownsville, Texas, in August 2023 by way of a raft across the Rio Grande River from Mexico, according to the report. He was picked up by Border Patrol and claimed that he entered the U.S. to seek asylum to find work to help his family financially and to obtain an education. He was processed and released after the National Crime Information Center query returned no criminal history for him.
Days later, and still not detained by ICE, he was said to be part of a group that robbed a Macy’s store in Queens Center Mall and assaulted an employee. Gomez Izquiel was accused of acting as a lookout for a group of three others who stole merchandise from the store. In late July 2024, Gomez Izquiel accepted a plea deal for the Times Square assault.
Meanwhile, the report also details how Riveron-Rivero crossed illegally into Brownsville, Texas, in May 2023 and was apprehended by border agents, who released him with instructions to report to ICE within 60 days, which he did in New York City in September 2023.
Officers issued a warrant for his arrest shortly before again releasing him on his own recognizance as long as he did not "violate any local, state, or federal laws or ordinances" or associate with known gang members or be associated with any such activity.
It is not clear why ICE officers issued the arrest warrant.
Two months later, Riveron-Rivero was accused of stealing pants at a New York City Nordstrom store and then punching and biting a worker in the face. He then tried to swipe a coat from Macy’s and also punched a store worker there. The report states he was released without bail after both arrests.
Riveron-Rivero is accused of grabbing, pulling and dragging the two cops to the ground in the Times Square attack. He’s been offered a deal for two years in prison in exchange for pleading guilty to second degree assault.
"New York City police officers were attacked because the Biden-Harris Administration allowed these illegal aliens to enter the country," the report states.
"The disastrous immigration policies of the Biden-Harris Administration have had real world consequences for American citizens. The effects of those policies will be felt for years to come, with criminal aliens in American neighborhoods harming families and hurting public safety across the country."
The report revealed that the country’s vetting process of migrants is almost non-existent since DHS has no way to determine if an alien has a criminal history in his or her own country unless that country reports the information to the U.S. government or the migrant self-reports.
The interim report also took aim at Bragg for accepting a plea deal Gomez Izquiel while at the same time engaging in "lawfare against the Biden-Harris Administration’s main political opponent: President Donald J. Trump," referring to the hush money case he was prosecuting against Trump.
"As the Committee has highlighted, Bragg has abused his office to target President Trump for political prosecution, using a novel and convoluted legal theory to turn an otherwise misdemeanor record-keeping infraction into dozens of felony counts."