New Yorkers are shaking their heads as a migrant teen let go after the mob attack on a pair of cops in Times Square got arrested again on new charges — this time for shoplifting at the Queens Center Mall.
How was he walking around free, let alone still in the country?
Darwin Andres Gomez-Izquiel, 19, got arrested for allegedly participating in a coordinated robbery of a Macy’s store in Queens — where District Attorney Melinda Katz will likely try a lot harder than Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg did to see he’s jailed.
The young Venezuelan “asylum seeker” stands charged with acting in concert with four others to shoplift clothes they then tried to hide in bags.
Bragg, of course, didn’t oppose his release without bail after the Times Square cop-attack, despite his lack of permanent address or community ties — clear flight risks that, along with the severity of the charges, allowed for bail-or-jail.
The Manhattan DA may have learned: Alejandro Rivas-Figueroa, another migrant teen, has since been charged as an adult and is being held at Rikers for allegedly shooting a tourist during an attempted robbery in Times Square.
As for deportation: President Biden’s granted millions of illegal border-crossers “humanitarian parole” while their asylum claims are processed, yet immigration law also says: “Violation of any condition of parole may lead to termination of the parole.”
But deportation proceedings can only be triggered once a criminal case is concluded.
Venezuelan gangs like Tren de Aragua are exploiting such loopholes, and “reformed” criminal-justice systems like New York’s, in high fashion.
Meanwhile, the NYPD has no access to their criminal history, photos, cellphones and “sometimes we’re even unclear on name or a date of birth,” says Police Commissioner Edward Caban, making these bandits “ghosts.”
And New York’s sanctuary policies stop police from working with, or even notifying, federal immigration enforcement agencies.
The nightmare will only grow worse if Tren de Aragua teams up with MS-13, a notorious Salvadoran gang that has ties to the Mexican cartels and a deadly yearslong presence on Long Island.
New Yorkers don’t need a weatherman to know which way the migrant-crime wind is blowing — or to see a gathering storm is coming.
Mayor Adams and Gov. Hochul shouldn’t wait for the storm to hit: Push federal immigration folks to expedite deportation proceedings for those migrants who plead guilty or are convicted, and demand local lawmakers review sanctuary rules and other reforms the gangs exploit.
Gomez-Izquiel and his compatriots are guests in our city and country — yet they’ve rejected our hospitality.
For that, they must be deported as quickly as rapidly as possible.
