A suspected Tren de Aragua gangbanger, one of the illegal migrants busted in the brutal, caught-on-video beatdown of two NYPD cops in January, had already been ordered deported — before he was caught again crossing the border, according to documents obtained by a congressional committee.
Another migrant allegedly tied to the brawl — who is also a suspected TdA member — was busted trying to sneak into Canada when he ran from US authorities after crossing the southern border, but was still released.
In total, four of the Venezuelan migrants indicted for brawling with NYPD cops in Times Square in January were apprehended by federal law enforcement last year but released without being deported, according to documents obtained by a congressional committee.
Alien files for the migrants obtained by the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement reveal a breakdown in the vetting process at the US border that has allowed hundreds of thousands known for committing crimes in their home countries to roam freely about the US.
Wilson Juarez-Aguilarte, Kelvin Servita Arocha, Yorman Yoel Riveron-Rivero and Darwin Gomez Izquiel entered the US between July 2022 and May 2023, slipping through several encounters before the Times Square beatdown, an interim report from the House subcommittee shows.
Subcommittee Chairman Tom McClintock (R-Calif.) subpoenaed Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on July 31 for the records, following repeated requests since February for information about the migrants.
All were charged with assault on a police officer and obstructing a governmental investigation for their Jan. 27 melee, in which they were caught on camera punching and kicking an NYPD officer and lieutenant.
Two have since agreed to lenient plea deals with Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office, according to police unions. Some had also been previously charged with robbery and other crimes, but none have yet been deported.
Juarez-Aguilarte, who is believed to be a member of the Venezuelan prison gang Tren de Aragua, crossed the southern border into Brownsville, Texas, on July 31, 2022, telling border agents he was heading to Houston.
While being questioned by Border Patrol, Juarez-Aguilarte refused to say why he fled Venezuela. Still, he was released into the US in August 2022.
In February 2023, an immigration judge ultimately ordered his removal from the US. However, Homeland Security sources say he’s likely here to stay because his home country of Venezuela refuses to accept deportations from the US.
It’s not clear when Juarez-Aguilarte left before he was caught again entering the US illegally with a group of 14 other migrants, this time at the northern border in Champlain, New York, on June 2, 2023. Border agents released him yet again.
Servita-Arocha, another suspected Tren de Aragua gang member, was also apprehended at the northern border in January 2023 while walking with a group of eight other Venezuelan migrants on a Chazy, New York, road just 10 miles from Canada.
The group told border agents they “wanted to go to Canada” after they had already crossed illegally into Texas a week before. Servita-Arocha was then quickly released into the US.
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.
When Riveron-Rivero showed up at the ICE office in New York City in September 2023, officers issued a warrant for his arrest shortly before again releasing him on his own recognizance so long as he did not “violate any local, state, or federal laws or ordinances” or “associate with known gang members, criminal associates, or be associated with any such activity.” It is not clear why ICE officers issued the arrest warrant.
Gomez Izquiel crossed the southern border illegally on Aug. 21, 2023, near Brownsville, Texas, where he was apprehended by Border Patrol agents. While in federal custody, Gomez Izquiel said he came to the US “[t]o seek asylum in order to obtain employment to assist [his] family financially and to obtain an education.”
He planned to live in Mississippi with an uncle.
However, Gomez Izquiel “was offered and accepted to withdraw [his] application for admission to the United States and return to Mexico instead of being placed in removal proceedings,” although he somehow was either released into the US or reentered by sneaking across the border.
Servita-Arocha was offered and accepted nearly six-month prison sentence in June in exchange for pleading guilty to all charges. Juarez-Aguilarte was offered the same deal the month before, but his case remains pending.
Prosecutors offered a two-year prison sentence to Riveron-Rivero in exchange for a guilty plea, but his case remains pending as well.
Earlier this month, Gomez-Izquiel, 19, smirked in a Manhattan courtroom after pleading guilty to second-degree assault for his scuffle with New York’s Finest.
He was slapped with a 364-day sentence, which the Police Benevolent Association decried as “not enough.”
The Judiciary panel in the report notes that while the cases were ongoing, Bragg allegedly “abused his office” to pursue a criminal prosecution of former President Donald Trump for business fraud.
That has come at a cost, committee staff claim, pointing to a reduction in the removal of migrants charged with crimes since President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris took office.
“For example, ‘in fiscal year 2023, ICE removed 41 percent fewer aliens with criminal convictions and criminal charges than in fiscal year 2020—and nearly 60 percent fewer than in fiscal year 2019,’” the report states, citing data previously disclosed by the House Judiciary Committee.
“As a result, the number of criminal aliens free in the United States totaled more than 617,000 by December 2023—and is likely growing daily because of the border crisis,” the report also points out.
Reps for the Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment.