The group of migrant squatters arrested last week in New York City on gun and drug charges all had been let into the U.S. at the southern border after being arrested when trying to cross illegally.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement told Fox News that the eight Venezuelans squatting inside a home in the Bronx had all been apprehended by border authorities between September 2022 and May 2023.
The agency said some of the migrants were later released due to overcrowding at processing centers, and news outlets reported that several already had been in varying trouble with the law even before last week’s incident.
New York City police discovered the squatters when one of them, 24-year-old Hector Desousa-Villalta, was accused of flashing a gun at someone by the home.
ICE said one of the men, 35-year-old Johan Cardenas Silva, was ordered for removal in March 2023 because he had entered the country illegally once before. Silva skipped out on his scheduled meeting with the agency and remained in New York City.
Another four residents found inside the home never showed up for processing appointments with government officials.
The agency said it arrested three of the squatters Wednesday at the same house in the Bronx. It also has submitted detainer requests for four others currently behind bars.
One suspect, Miguel Gregerio Barrios, remains at large.
Officers arrived at the home on March 27 upon getting the complaints of a man wielding a gun in public and saw Mr. Desousa-Villalta dart into the basement of the multi-family structure.
He was arrested and released on his own recognizance, though Bronx prosecutors said they sought to secure a $150,000 bail.
NYPD Chief of Patrol John Chell told the New York Post that Mr. Desousa-Villalta was charged with attempted murder last August in a shooting that left a man with a wounded leg. But the case fell apart when the victim didn’t cooperate with police.
Mr. Desousa-Villalta was one of the three migrants arrested during ICE’s Wednesday raid on the Bronx home. Authorities also took Yoessy Pino Castillo, 20, and Yojairo Martinez, 42, into custody that same day.
Seven of the migrants were hit with weapons and drug charges after police uncovered the squatting situation, according to authorities.
Some of the migrants had prior run-ins with the law before their most recent arrests.
Police said Javier Jose Albornoz Marchan was arrested on weapons charges in September and was handcuffed four times for shoplifting in both New York and New Jersey over the past 13 months.
Ms. Castillo was also arrested in January on shoplifting charges in New Jersey, police said.
• Matt Delaney can be reached at mdelaney@washingtontimes.com.
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