One of several Venezuelan migrants accused of participating in a street brawl with two New York City police officers earlier this year was arrested by immigration authorities after the city honored a detention request , a decision contrary to New York’s sanctuary city policies.
Darwin Andres Gomez-Izquiel, 19, was arrested after being released. The arrest occurred after the New York City Department of Corrections honored a detention request from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), despite New York’s sanctuary city status.
He remains in ICE custody pending deportation proceedings, the agency said.
“Gomez-Izquiel is a criminal and a threat to New York City officials, residents and businesses,” said Kenneth Genalo, director of ICE’s New York Field Office. “We will not allow our communities to become safe havens for non-citizens who refuse to follow our laws. ICE New York City will continue to work with unwavering resolve to apprehend and remove these violent criminals.”
VENEZUELAN TREN DE ARAGUA GANG MEMBER ARRESTED IN NY 2 YEARS AFTER BORDER PATROL RELEASED HIM IN US
Darwin Gomez-Izquiel, 19, in a Manhattan courtroom. Gomez-Izquiel accepted a plea deal for his role in the assault on two NYPD officers in Times Square. (Fox News)
In a statement to Fox News Digital, the New York Department of Corrections said it “processes ICE detainees in accordance with local law, which defines the extent of our cooperation with federal immigration authorities.” .
Gomez-Izquiel was initially arrested by U.S. Border Patrol agents in August 2023, but voluntarily returned to Mexico, ICE said. On October 3, 2023, he was arrested again in Texas after crossing the southern border illegally, authorities said.
He reportedly did not appear before an immigration judge after being released.
On January 27, Gomez-Izquiel was part of a group of migrants who attacked two NYPD officers outside a migrant shelter in Times Square. He allegedly grabbed a police officer and kicked another.
Gomez-Izquiel was convicted of assault and sentenced in July to 364 days in prison.
After the police assault, he was initially released without bail, but was arrested weeks later for his alleged role in a violent robbery at a Macy’s department store in Queens, during which a security guard was slightly injured.
THE VENEZUELAN TREN DE ARAGUA GANG RECRUITS CHILDREN FROM TEXAS COLLEGES
“A migrants who attacked our officers last week in Times Square is back,” NYPD Deputy Commissioner Kaz Daughtry posted on X. “This time he was part of a group that robbed a department store in Queens. They also attacked an employee. Different neighborhood, different crime – same disregard for the law. This is the last thing New Yorkers need.”
Juvenile illegal immigrants in Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang, committed a series of crimes in New York but remained at large thanks to the state’s lenient laws, said Jason Savino, deputy chief of the NYPD detective bureau.
“It’s shocking to say the least, and we’ve seen progression with this group,” Savino told “Fox & Friends” Tuesday morning.
CLICK TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Twenty members of a subgroup of the gang calling themselves “Los Diablos de la 42,” referring to New York’s 42nd Street, were arrested for 50 separate crimes, according to Savino.
“When they came in, they were actually encouraged not to commit crimes, so they stuck to pickpockets, and then they moved on to snatches, shortly after the scooter crime,” Savino told Fox News. “Why? Because their initial criminality had no consequences.”
Michael Ruiz of Fox News Digital contributed to this report.
