(The Center Square) – Four migrants arrested for beating a police officer in New York’s Times Square are en route to a California-Mexico border town on tickets provided by a church-affiliated nonprofit after receiving zero-bail release, according to reporting from the New York Post.
A large group of what law enforcement officials say are Venezuelan illegal immigrants associated with international criminal activity were caught on camera beating up two NYPD officers near Times Square. At least seven individuals have been arrested in connection with the assault.
Four of those migrants who were arrested in connection with the attack were released without bail, including one of whom had prior pending charges and was let out on supervised release, gave false names to a nonprofit providing free transportation out of New York to receive tickets to Calexico, California, which sits on the Mexican border.
Police in Calexico are aware the fugitives are en route to the city, which is separated from Mexicali by a low fence.
“The individuals involved in the incident have been placed on a bus to Calexico, and we want to emphasize that the Calexico Police Department is fully prepared to handle any related matters,” said the Calexico Police Department in a statement.
The migrants were released on their own recognizance, despite national media attention, because the Manhattan district attorney did not request bail. New York law enforcement told CNN that because bail was not requested, they cannot stop the men because they “have no legal authority to chase them or attempt to stop them.”
“Now normally, we probably wouldn’t even be talking about this because the US Marshals and detectives would be waiting for them in St. Louis but they were released on their own recognizance, which means police have nothing to arrest them on, on the assumption – which they have to operate on – that they’ll be back for their [March 4] court date,” said John Miller, a former NYPD deputy commissioner and CNN’s chief law enforcement and intelligence analyst.
“The chances of that happening when four people get on a bus with false names and head for the city that literally you can cross the street into the Mexican border is probably unlikely,” continued Miller on CNN.
California, which has established itself as a “sanctuary state” for illegal immigrants, has implemented laws and policies that limit cooperation between local law enforcement and federal immigration authorities. This means state and local law enforcement agencies are unable to detain individuals for deportation without a judicial warrant, and that they are not able to ask about otherwise detained individuals’ immigration status.
Since January 1, illegal immigrants are also eligible for taxpayer-financed healthcare in California, a benefit expected to cost California taxpayers $3.4 billion this year. Other benefits include food assistance for illegal immigrants 55 and over, in-state college tuition and financial aid, and a cash assistance program for “aged, blind, and disabled non-citizens who are ineligible for Supplemental Security Income/State Supplementary Payment (SSI/SSP) solely due to their immigration status.”
