Illegal Immigrant Youth Gang Members Released After Assaulting NYPD Officers No more lax treatment of violent illegal immigrants regardless of age. Joseph Klein
A mob of young illegal immigrant gangbangers descended upon innocent individuals they intended to rob in Times Square on May 2nd. They attacked police officers who were trying to rescue the victims. The mob’s leader, believe it or not, was a 12-year-old who police believe is linked to the designated Venezuelan terrorist gang Tren de Aragua through his membership in a related youth group, Diablos de la 42.
This 12-year-old and three other youths, who are believed to be connected to the Diablos de la 42 gang, were arrested at the scene. They have since been released without bail. Adding insult to injury, these young Tren de Aragua-related hooligans in training are living in hotels at taxpayers’ expense.
“Make no mistake, this is not low level crime. It’s organized violence carried out by gang members that we have already taken off the streets for preying on New Yorkers,” New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said. “It’s not a fluke. It’s a system failure. It’s what happens when repeat offenders are allowed to cycle through arrest after arrest.”
Commissioner Tisch’s words sound well-intentioned, but they are meaningless. ICE agents who showed up at the NYPD precinct, where one of the teen suspects involved in the melee with the NYPD officers was being held, were denied access to the illegal immigrant. Commissioner Tisch justified turning away the ICE agents by citing New York’s sanctuary laws prohibiting police officers from cooperating with federal officials on civil immigration deportation cases.
Commissioner Tisch operates not only in a sanctuary jurisdiction but also in a juvenile criminal-friendly state where the chance that even violent youths will be sent to juvenile detention is slim at best. The 12-year-old ringleader was busted previously in connection with a violent subway mugging and with several muggings in Central Park when he was 11, only to be back on the street to menace more innocent people.
“Is this what a sanctuary city is supposed to be?” a frustrated police officer asked. “One of these kids was 11 years old when he was the ringleader of that Central Park robbery pattern. What is it going to take for some of this policy to change when you have an 11, now 12-year-old, running around — or anybody — committing these crimes? When is common sense going to prevail?”
Common sense will not return to New York City and other sanctuary jurisdictions until they stop shielding violent illegal immigrants of any age from federal law enforcement. The Trump administration is trying to put an end to sanctuary cities and states by denying them federal funding. But, as usual, an activist federal district court judge, exceeding his judicial authority, is interfering.
U.S. District Judge William Orrick in San Francisco issued an injunction on April 24th barring the Trump administration’s cutoff of all federal funds to sanctuary jurisdictions. In response, President Trump issued a new executive order that simply calls for federal agency heads to identify appropriate Federal funds to designated sanctuary jurisdictions, including grants and contracts, for suspension or termination. It also directs the Attorney General and Department of Homeland Security Secretary to “pursue all necessary legal remedies and enforcement measures to…bring such jurisdictions into compliance with the laws of the United States.”
President Trump’s new executive order did not direct the actual termination or suspension of any funds, although an accompanying fact sheet states that sanctuary jurisdictions that do not comply with federal law “may lose federal funding.” (Emphasis added) A statement of what may happen if sanctuary jurisdictions do not comply with federal law was enough for Judge Orick to run interference for sanctuary jurisdictions again. Judge Orick issued a new order of his own on May 9th against the Trump administration for what the judge perceived as a violation of the “spirit” of his previous injunction and as “an end run.”
Hopefully, Judge Orick’s rulings will be reversed on appeal. But the Trump administration cannot afford to wait. Following the Diablos de la 42 gangbangers’ May 2nd assault on NYPD officers and the refusal of local officials to cooperate with ICE, Tom Homan, President Trump’s border czar, said, “this is just another example of sanctuary cities not cooperating with ICE and look what happened: NYPD officers are attacked. If you’re brazen enough to attack an armed law enforcement officer, you’re much more dangerous to an unarmed civilian.”
ICE intends to fight back.
“Game’s over. We’re gonna look for these public safety threats and we’re gonna take ‘em off the streets in New York and every other sanctuary city,” Mr. Homan warned. “As a matter of fact, every sanctuary city, we’re gonna triple the workforce. We’re gonna flood the zone with officers. If we can’t arrest them in the jail, we’re gonna arrest them in the community. If we can’t arrest them in the community, we’ll arrest them at their worksite.”
The Trump administration will also not tolerate interference with its immigration law enforcement activities by local officials. Newark’s Mayor Ras J. Baraka found that out the hard way. He was arrested after ignoring repeated warnings from Homeland Security when he tried without permission to enter a new immigration detention facility past the front gate. This facility houses some of the worst of the worst illegal immigrants and more were being transported there when Mayor Baraka showed up and created a potential security threat. The mayor’s excuse was that the owner of the facility the federal government was using had violated city laws and also that he wanted to accompany members of Congress inside. But that does not explain why he chose to engage in performative theater rather than follow security protocols in visiting the detention facility at an appropriate time without causing disruption and safety concerns.
Last month, the FBI arrested Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan for allegedly obstructing federal immigration authorities who were in the public lobby of the courthouse to detain an illegal immigrant following his court proceeding before Judge Dugan. Judge Dugan is accused of sneaking the illegal immigrant and his defense attorney through a nonpublic jury door to evade being detained.
FBI Director Kash Patel posted: “We believe Judge Dugan intentionally misdirected federal agents away from the subject to be arrested in her courthouse, Eduardo Flores Ruiz, allowing the subject — an illegal alien — to evade arrest. Thankfully, our agents chased down the perp on foot and he’s been in custody since, but the Judge’s obstruction created increased danger to the public.”
Aside from going after local officials who cross the line, the Trump administration has another valuable tool in its toolbox. On January 29, 2025, President Trump signed the Laken Riley Act into law, which amends the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). Specifically, the Laken Riley Act amends the categories of aliens subject to mandatory detention under the INA. It adds an additional category to require the Secretary of Homeland Security to detain any alien who:
(i) is inadmissible under specified paragraphs of Section 212 of the INA, and
(ii) is charged with, is arrested for, is convicted of, admits having committed, or admits committing acts which constitute the essential elements of any burglary, theft, larceny, shoplifting, or assault of a law enforcement officer offense, or any crime that results in death or serious bodily injury to another person.
There is no exception in the Laken Riley Act for minors. They are subject to mandatory detention if what they have done fits within the new law’s parameters. Moreover, the Laken Riley Act limits judicial review. This critical change provides that no court “may set aside any action or decision by the Attorney General” under the Apprehension and Detention of Aliens section of the INA “regarding the detention of any alien or the revocation or denial of bond or parole.”
The Trump administration has already used the Laken Riley Act to take suspected members of the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang off the streets in Florida and detain them. That was easy to do in Florida, which cooperates with ICE. It is time to aggressively invoke the Laken Riley Act in sanctuary jurisdictions like New York City to take illegal immigrant gangbangers into custody and confine them in detention facilities pending final orders of deportation. That includes the Tren de Aragua’s farm team of young thugs, Diablos de la 42.
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