by Jason Hopkins
Migrants reportedly make up roughly 75% of arrests in Midtown Manhattan and a large bulk of other New York City (NYC) neighborhoods, according to the New York Post.
Illegal migrants and other foreign nationals living in shelters are flooding New York City’s criminal justice system, according to law enforcement sources that spoke anonymously with the Post. These migrants are being arrested for robbery, assault, domestic violence and other crimes across NYC.
“I would say about 75% of the arrests in Midtown Manhattan are migrants, mostly for robberies, assaults, domestic incidents and selling counterfeit items,” a Midtown officer stated to the Post. The source explained that number is an estimate because “you can’t be 100% sure [they’re migrants] unless you arrest them in a shelter or they’re dumb enough to give you a shelter address.”
Police officers are prohibited from asking about the immigration status of crime victims, witnesses or suspects and therefore the New York Police Department (NYPD) doesn’t track data pertaining to immigration statuses, a law enforcement spokesperson confirmed to the Daily Caller News Foundation on Tuesday.
Another law enforcement officer added that the rate of local arrests in Manhattan involving migrants is “easily” 75% when you exclude petty larcenies at drugstores because they prefer more high-end merchandise, according to the Post.
“They can’t be bothered with lower-end stores. They like Lululemon and Sunglass Hut,” the source stated, and noted that migrants are involved in the majority of pickpocketing, chain and phone snatching cases with the NYPD.
Border Patrol agents have encountered more than seven million migrants illegally crossing the southern border since the beginning of the Biden-Harris administration, and hundreds of thousands of other foreign nationals have entered the U.S. through other programs created by the White House. A large number of these migrants have zeroed in on New York City, with city officials saying over 200,000 migrants have arrived since 2022 — costing the city roughly $1.5 billion in 2023 alone.
The sheer volume of migrants flooding the city has been followed by numerous high-profile crimes.
A homeless illegal migrant in Brooklyn was arrested last month for allegedly raping a woman at knifepoint, with the case attracting widespread attention upon the discovery that he had been previously arrested for another rape and released by law enforcement. In other cases involving migrant crime in the the Big Apple, a group allegedly went on a shoplifting spree and beat down an NYPD officer, another illegal migrant allegedly fired at two cops during a foot chase and another illegal migrant allegedly raped a 13-year-old girl at knifepoint.
“New York City eliminated a tool to get rid of violent criminals. What a mess,” Jim Quinn, a veteran former prosecutor at the Queens District Attorney’s Office, stated to the Post.
“The sanctuary city law is pathetic. It’s disgusting. It’s crazy,” Quinn continued.
Mayor Eric Adams has increasingly voiced support for rolling back the city’s sanctuary laws, and a group of moderate members on the NYC Council have put forward legislation to do just that. However, these efforts so far have fallen flat as the bill aiming to undo the sanctuary city laws is expected to go nowhere and a proposed referendum on the laws did not make it on the upcoming November ballot for NYC voters to directly decide.
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Jason Hopkins is a reporter at Daily Caller News Foundation.
