The four migrant detainees who escaped from a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in Newark during a riot were behind bars for assault and burglary charges, Homeland Security sources told The Post.
The men were identified as Franklin Norberto Bautista-Reyes and Joel Enrique Sandoval-Lopez, both of Honduras, and Joan Sebastian Castaneda-Lozada and Andres Pineda-Mogollon, both of Colombia.
The migrant runaways escaped after up to 50 detainees staged a revolt and pushed down a wall of a dormitory room inside the center, NJ.com reported.
The detainees lashed out after growing dissatisfied with the quality and timeliness of their meals, the local outlet reported.
Some detainees were said to have descended from the third-floor dormitory using a rope they made out of bedsheets, according to sources and a lawyer for a migrant detained at the facility who spoke to the New Jersey publication.
Bautista-Reyes was arrested in May for aggravated assault, attempt to cause bodily injury, terroristic threats, and possession of a weapon for unlawful purposes, the Department of Homeland Security said.
Sandoval-Lopez was arrested twice in the last year, once for unlawful possession of a handgun and again in February for aggravated assault.
Castaneda-Lozada was busted in May on burglary, theft, and conspiracy to commit burglary charges.
Similarly, Pineda-Mogollon was being held on residential burglary, conspiracy to commit residential burglary, and possession of burglary tools charges.
Lopez illegally entered the US as a minor in 2019, while the rest of the men snuck over the border during the Biden administration.
Several police agencies responded to emergency calls at the GEO Group-operated facility, which opened in May after the private prison company secured a $900 million deal with the Trump administration.
Earlier Thursday, dozens of people protested outside Delaney Hall, which has been heavily scrutinized amid the Trump administration’s mass deportations and after several House Democrats allegedly broke into the facility last month.
US Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-NJ) was charged with assaulting an officer during the melee, acting New Jersey US Attorney Alina Habba announced Monday.
The DHS and the FBI are offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the four fugitives.
DHS has brought in “additional law enforcement partners … to find the escapees,” a senior agency official told The Post.
“We encourage the public to call 911 or the ICE Tip Line: 866-DHS-2-ICE if they have information that may lead to the locating of these individuals.”
