Now this is what you call a bad hombre!

From the Queens Chronicle:

A Jackson Heights man convicted of rape and twice deported from the United States was sentenced to 57 months in prison by a federal judge last Wednesday for illegally re-entering the country, prosecutors said.

Judge Sandra Feuerstein ruled that Rogelio Mendez, 38, a Mexican national who also has gone by “Rogelio Mendez-Puebla” will serve the time consecutively with the 30-month sentence he got in Suffolk County court last year after pleading guilty to third-degree rape.

He was working at a restaurant in Southampton, LI, when that crime occurred in September 2016. Mendez raped a woman at a house he shared with co-workers.

He’s incarcerated for the rape now.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York, Mendez was first deported from America in 2004, after he served a two-year prison term for illegally possessing a loaded gun in Queens.

He came back to the United States in 2005 and was deported again in 2009.

Then, Mendez illegally re-entered the United States a year later.

ICE deports 95-year old Nazi living in Jackson Heights

From Fox News:

A former Nazi SS labor camp guard was deported from his home in Queens, N.Y., to Germany, the White House announced in a statement early Tuesday morning.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents implemented a 2004 deportation order against Jakiw Palij, who immigrated to the United States in 1949 and became a citizen in 1957 after concealing his Nazi background, the statement read.

Palij admitted to Department of Justice officials in 2003 that he trained at a Nazi camp in German-occupied Poland. Court documents indicated that men who trained at the SS Training camp in Trawniki carried out the Nazi regime’s plan to murder Jews in Poland.

The 95-year-old also served as an armed guard at the adjacent Trawniki Labor Camp – where he served an “indispensable role” in the death of roughly 6,000 Jews who were killed in one of the single largest massacres of the Holocaust in 1943, according to the statement.

Palij, who claimed he was working on a farm and in a factory during World War II, had his U.S. citizenship revoked in 2003 by a federal judge, and ordered to be deported a year later. His appeal was denied in 2005.

Palij’s deportation process was hindered over Germany’s unwillingness to take him back because he is not a German citizen, ABC News reported.

President Trump tasked U.S. Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell to ensure Palij’s deportation was on the top of his list when he arrived to Berlin, according to the outlet.

Following ICE on patrol

From PIX11:

ICE agents went to the Bronx Criminal Courthouse a few weeks ago to arrest Aboubacar Dembele, following the African immigrant's court hearing to contest an assault charge.

“The media does not focus on all of these criminals that we’re going after," Genalo said, "Rather than focus on the criminals that we’re trying to remove, and that we’re arresting in the community, they’d rather take and focus on the small percentage of the cases that you just mentioned."

In Jersey City, Genalo’s team made its final arrest of the day – cuffing a multiple drug offender from the Dominican Republic with two deportations on his record.

“I know I made a mistake," he said.

Jamaican immigrant Andrea Stibo, a legal resident, has mixed feelings about the direction of the nation's immigration policy.

“You're not supposed to overstay your visa,” she said.

Like so many legal, documented immigrants, Stibo wonders if there is room in some cases, for compassionate policy enforcement.

“If you coming, and you stay over your welcome, and you don’t commit no crime – no, you got the right to stay,” Stibo said.

When confronted with her contradiction, Stibo responded, “I don’t have no sympathy for criminals.”

ICE cracking down on DUI offenders

From PIX11:

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested more than two dozen undocumented immigrants during an operation cracking down on those with convictions for driving under the influence.

All but one of the 25 arrested in November had a previous DUI-related conviction, officials said. The other individual was arrested for immigration violations.

One of the men arrested, a 35-year-old previously removed Honduran man, also had been convicted of assault. A 40-year-old Salvadoran national has been identified as an alleged MS-13 gang member.

Why are we protecting criminals?

From ICE:

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) Fugitive Operations teams arrested 498 individuals from 42 countries for federal immigration violations in multiple cities across the U.S. during a four-day operation that ended Wednesday. Operation ‘Safe City’ focused on cities and regions where ICE deportation officers are denied access to jails and prisons to interview suspected immigration violators or jurisdictions where ICE detainers are not honored.

The operation targeted individuals who have violated U.S. immigration laws, prioritizing aliens with criminal convictions, pending criminal charges, known gang members and affiliates, immigration fugitives and those who re-entered the U.S. after deportation. Individuals with active DACA were not targeted for arrest.

“Sanctuary jurisdictions that do not honor detainers or allow us access to jails and prisons are shielding criminal aliens from immigration enforcement and creating a magnet for illegal immigration,” said ICE Acting Director Tom Homan. “As a result, ICE is forced to dedicate more resources to conduct at-large arrests in these communities.”
“ICE’s goal is to build cooperative, respectful relationships with our law enforcement partners to help prevent dangerous criminal aliens from being released back onto the streets. Non-cooperation policies severely undermine that effort at the expense of public safety,” he said.

Operation Safe City arrests took place in Baltimore (28), Cook County, Illinois (30), Denver (63), Los Angeles (101), New York (45), Philadelphia (107), Portland, Ore. (33), Santa Clara County, Calif (27); and Washington, D.C. (14) and the state of Massachusetts (50).

Among those arrested during this week’s operation were: In New York, a citizen of Ecuador with lawful permanent resident status who was previously charged with sexual abuse of a minor and convicted of endangering the welfare of a child, and convicted of sexual abuse of a minor under 14. He was previously released from local custody before ICE could assume custody.

Of the 498 individuals taken into custody during this operation for immigration violations:

317 had criminal convictions, as noted in the chart below;
68 are immigration fugitives;
104 are previously deported criminal aliens; and
18 are gang members or affiliates.

Getting to MS-13 through immigrants

From Fox News:

Critics of the sanctuary city crackdown say it will chill immigrants from helping ICE go after MS-13 gang members, but the feds say they have plenty of tools – including a change in visa status - to win cooperation from the immigrant community.

The options seem to be paying off, with investigators from ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations saying immigrant cooperation is making a big difference in the fight against the lethal and ruthless MS-13 gang.

In an atmosphere where cooperating with law enforcement is a death sentence imposed by the gang, most illegal immigrants appear to be more concerned about how to obtain legal resident status than financial reward, said one investigator who declined to be identified.

But at the same time, critics warn that the visa tool should be used only sparingly, since it could lead to fraudulent claims.

Landlord reports tenants to ICE, gets fined by City

From the Daily News:

A Queens landlord who reported his tenants to ICE after they complained about him to the city has been slapped with a retaliation charge, the Daily News has learned.

"Our message is loud and clear: we will hold landlords accountable for discrimination in our city," Mayor de Blasio said in a statement. "We stand with tenants, regardless of their origin, in Queens and across the five boroughs."

The city would not name the Ridgewood landlord, citing a continuing investigation, or the tenants, out of fear of further retaliation.

The city Commission on Human Rights initially served the landlord with a notice of complaint alleging discrimination in March, after immigrant-advocacy group Make the Road NY alerted them to problems at the building.

The landlord responded by denying the charges - and copying ICE on his letter, which contained the personal information of his tenants.

That, the commission says, violates the city's Human Rights Law, which prohibits people from retaliating after someone files a discrimination complaint. Sapna V. Raj, an assistant commissioner at the commission, said the commission will continue to go after anyone who retaliates against New Yorkers reporting discrimination.

We sure do love our criminals here

From Epoch Times:

A once-deported Dominican man with a criminal record and felony arrest warrant was recently released on bail, despite immigration authorities requesting that he be handed over to them.

Instead, ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) had to locate and arrest Joselin Medina as he left the Bronx Criminal Court in New York on June 16, the agency reported.

Medina has a past felony conviction for the criminal sale of a controlled substance and a pending misdemeanor charge and felony re-entry charge, according to ICE.

“Even a federal criminal warrant issued by a United States magistrate is not enough for the city of New York to turn over a convicted felon to ICE,” said Thomas R. Decker, field office director for ERO New York. “It is unfathomable that New York would create such a public safety risk for the sake of political expediency.”

Medina is now in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service and is facing up to 20 years in federal prison, after which he will be deported.

And if it was up to Joe Crowley, the sanctuary system will stay in place.

Mob tries to prevent ICE from arresting burglar

From NBC:

Dozens of residents banded together Tuesday to try to stop federal immigration agents from arresting an undocumented man wanted by police for burglary, according to reports.
The neighbors gathered on 112th Street in Richmond Hill as ICE agents were arresting 35-year-old Hardat Sampat.

Sampat is accused of burglary and re-entering the U.S. illegally, according to The Daily News. He was on his way to Queens Criminal Court Tuesday morning for a scheduled appearance when ICE agents in unmarked cars boxed him in and took him into custody.

The USCIS agents weren't even "turned away"

Wow, this is getting better and better. Of course, most of the news media is only going to go with the scared immigrant children angle when the only one doing the scaring is the de Blasio administration and his supporting pols.

DHS issued the following statement today on @USCIS activities in New York City. pic.twitter.com/oL8VkW7x1m

— Homeland Security (@DHSgov) May 15, 2017

Federal agents showing up at a school didn't cause panic. The mayor did.

Thank you to NY1, who has had the most honest reporting of all.

It's an embarrassing time to be a New Yorker.

Fearmongering mayor caught in big lie

This weekend, I read some news stories where Mayor de Blasio and Schools Chancellor Carmen Farina proudly claimed that one of their schools turned away an ICE agent that showed up "looking for a fourth grader". To me, the story sounded a bit strange and I could tell from the press use of the word "allegedly" that they weren't exactly buying it either, so I decided to give it a bit more time before posting about it. When outlandish claims are made by pols, the truth tends to come out sooner than later.

First, some background: Big Bird made a grand announcement earlier this year that from now on, ICE agents that show up at schools would be turned away. When questioned as to how often this has happened, he admitted it never did. So naturally, he thought this incident would be great fodder for him to use to show that he had tremendous foresight in enacting this new policy.

However, NY1 burst his bubble last night by publishing the truth:

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (UCIS) said two officials went to a Queens elementary school Thursday to confirm facts about a fourth grader's enrollment.

The agency — which is part of the Department of Homeland Security but not directly affiliated with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) — said the verification was for what they call an "immigration benefit request."

USCIS said the student, who attends P.S. 58 in Maspeth, was not the subject of the request, and the officials did not ask to see or speak with the child.

USCIS said school visits are not routine, but they are not unusual.

USCIS is the branch of Homeland Security that processes immigration and naturalization applications. If school visits are "not unusual", then this school, located in District 24, one of the most immigrant rich areas of the city, certainly has been visited by them before to verify enrollment. And if they were in fact turned away, then the city may have made it a bit harder for someone to obtain citizenship.

ICE, on the other hand, is the agency charged with enforcement of immigration law. They are not one and the same, and BDB is well aware of this, but the opportunity to appeal to his deluded base by fearmongering was just too good to pass up.

The moral of the story is: Just because the mayor says something happened doesn't make it the truth.

NYPD is actually notifying ICE about court appearances

From the Daily News:

The NYPD alerts federal immigration agents to the Criminal Court appearances of immigrants facing deportation, the Daily News has learned.

As a “sanctuary city,” the city currently only complies with Immigration and Customs Enforcement “detainer” orders to hold a defendant until federal agents can take custody in cases involving violent or serious felonies.

But in the process of verifying warrants against a defendant, officials said the NYPD will contact relevant law enforcement, including ICE, thereby alerting the agency to an immigrant’s upcoming appearance in a city courtroom.

Advocates slammed the practice, saying it amounts to “collusion” with immigration officials that goes against the spirit of Mayor de Blasio’s pledge that the city will remain a sanctuary city.

Lawyers telling illegals to stay at Rikers

From the NY Post:

Federal agents trying to deport illegal-immigrant criminals are hitting a new roadblock in New York City — crafty defense lawyers who will put their clients in jail to keep them in the country, The Post has learned.

A Legal Aid lawyer took the extreme measure in The Bronx Thursday, when she claimed an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent was waiting for her client and begged a judge to lock up the suspect.
The rookie judge — a Mayor de Blasio appointee — complied, setting $3,000 bail even though the defendant had been free for the six months since his arrest.

“I can’t believe this — every day Legal Aid is asking for no bail” for their clients, one insider told The Post.

“And now they’re asking for bail because even going to Rikers is better than being deported.”

Lawyers are also advising clients not to post even the lowest of bails so that they’ll go to Rikers Island rather than into the waiting arms of ICE agents, sources said.

De Blasio creates fake issue for press conference

From City Council Watch:

Mayor de Blasio held a press conference earlier this week at Tweed Courthouse to announce a major new policy directive. He was joined by Melissa Mark-Viverito, Zachary Carter, Carmen Fariña, Gale Brewer, Vanessa Gibson, Nisha Agarwal, Carlos Menchaca, Helen Rosenthal, and a number of other officials and advocates.

The announcement was that from now on ICE agents will not be allowed in DOE schools unless they have a warrant. Everybody took a turn at the mike to denounce fear and hate. Corporation Counsel Carter and the head of school security for the NYPD ran through all the new protocols and training, the chains of command and lines of authority, the phone trees and channels of communication. Who would authenticate the warrants, who would accompany the agents. What number to call when the children are arrested and where you can go to get help.

At question time I asked the obvious question: “How many incidents have there been so far of ICE agents trying to enter schools, with or without warrants.” Mayor de Blasio answered, “None, so far.” Hmm. Then I had another question for Chancellor Fariña.

Later I went on YouTube to review the video of the press conference. But when the video came to my question there was an odd skip: the first question was cut from the video, and picked up again about 15 seconds later with my question for Fariña.

Someone with authority in Mayor de Blasio’s communications department decided that his answer to my question was off-message, and edited the tape to erase the part where the mayor admits that his new policy directive addresses a problem that does not exist. Basically it was all for show.

I excerpted a clip from the video to preserve the evidence that the mayor’s press office redacted his comments. Here it is:



Greg Gutfield went off on the Dope from Park Slope. (This is a must watch.)



Dopey also leaves news conferences when the questions aren't to his liking.

De Blasio wanted to keep gang member

From the Daily News:

Mayor de Blasio lashed out Tuesday at Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials after their agents scooped up a 19-year-old Salvadoran immigrant in Queens.

ICE officials issued a detainer order to the city Department of Correction in May, telling them to place a federal hold on Velasquez. But the city released Velasquez from Rikers Island on Thursday after he served nearly five months for disorderly conduct, a misdemeanor.

Later that day, ICE agents busted Velasquez, whom they described as a gang member and a potential threat to public safety. Velasquez was in the midst of being deported late Tuesday.

De Blasio cried foul.

“The detainee was released after he pled guilty and served his time for an offense that does not qualify as a violent or serious felony under the city’s local laws,” said Rosemary Boeglin, a mayoral spokeswoman.

ICE officials said Velasquez admitted to agents he was a member of the MS-13 gang. He was one of at least 41 people the agency detained around the city in the last month.

Velasquez entered the U.S. illegally, ICE officials said. And in November 2015, a judge ordered he be deported. His criminal history in the U.S. includes reckless endangerment, criminal possession of a weapon in the fourth degree, and disorderly conduct, ICE officials said.

Council members order NYPD to ignore the Feds

From the Politicker:

The New York City Council overwhelmingly passed legislation today to stop the Department of Correction and the NYPD from honoring immigration detainers issued by the federal government unless they are accompanied by a judge’s warrant.

The council voted 41 in favor and 6 against on two bills that will largely end cooperation with the federal government when it requests an immigration detainer — which asks Corrections or the NYPD to hold a person for 48 hours when they might otherwise be released so that the person can be handed over the the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency. The requests are often made when an undocumented immigrant is being released from jail for another crime, or if they have been in NYPD custody for questioning.

Under the new legislation, which Mayor Bill de Blasio has said he supports, the city will honor immigration waivers if the federal government requests them with a judge’s warrant — and even then, only if the subject of the warrant was convicted within the last five years of a violent or serious crime, or is a possible match on the terrorism watch list.

So they passed a law that said the NYPD should ignore a federal judge's warrant? And only 2 Queens councilmembers (Vallone and Ulrich) voted against this? Holy crap, we're in big trouble.

Viv protecting jailed illegal aliens

From Capital New York:

City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito announced legislation that would further reduce the city's cooperation with the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.

The measure was announced on Thursday and has the support of council members Danny Dromm, Rafael Espinal, and immigration committee chair Carlos Menchaca.

The bill would prohibit the city from honoring civil immigration detainers unless a warrant has been issued by a federal judge. It would also force ICE officers out of Rikers Island and would stop Department of Correction officers from being able to assist federal officials with enforcement efforts such as raids.

If passed, it would mean the New York Police Department and D.O.C. would no longer honor detainer requests issued by ICE unless a federal judge had issued a warrant for the individual.

NY Senate bill would provide citizenship benefits to illegal aliens

From the NY Post:

Illegal aliens in New York could score billions in Medicaid and college tuition money — along with driver’s licenses, voting rights and even the ability to run for office — if Democrats win control of the state Senate in November, The Post has learned.

A little-known bill, dubbed “New York is Home,” would offer the most sweeping amnesty available anywhere in the country to nearly 3 million noncitizens living in the Empire State.

It would bar police from releasing any information about them to the feds, unless it involves a criminal warrant unrelated to their immigration status.

Under the proposed legislation, undocumented immigrants could also apply for professional licenses and serve on juries.

The plan hinges on Democrats — who now control both the governorship and the state Assembly — wresting control of the Senate from Republicans, who oppose immigration amnesty.

GOP officials maintain that amnesty for illegal aliens would open the door to fraud and abuse and increase the risk of terrorism.

For example, the bill would let illegals vote in local and state elections, but they would be barred by federal law from voting for presidential or congressional candidates.

Assembly Member turns out to be illegal alien

From the NY Times:

A New York assemblywoman in her first term became the latest state lawmaker to be forced out of office as she pleaded guilty on Friday to two felonies in Federal District Court in Manhattan.

The assemblywoman, Gabriela Rosa of Manhattan, unlike some of her convicted colleagues, was not accused of bribery; she was undone by making false statements, including one concerning a fraudulent marriage that she admitted was part of an immigration scheme.

Ms. Rosa told Judge Denise Cote that she had gotten married some years ago to “regularize my immigration status.”

“I married this person and it was not a real marriage,” she said.

Prosecutors said that around 1996, Ms. Rosa, a citizen of the Dominican Republic, paid a United States citizen about $8,000 to enter into “a sham marriage” while she was in a relationship with a man she would later marry; she ended the sham marriage a few years later. In subsequent submissions to the immigration authorities, she falsely represented that her marriage had been bona fide, the government said.

Ms. Rosa pleaded guilty to two counts of making false statements, to immigration authorities and in a bankruptcy proceeding. As part of her plea, Ms. Rosa agreed to resign from the Assembly, where she had represented the 72nd Assembly District, which includes Washington Heights, Inwood and Marble Hill.

Preet Bharara, the United States attorney in Manhattan, said that Ms. Rosa’s crimes “cut to the heart of her legal qualification to serve the people of the State of New York as a New York State assemblywoman.”

“She gained the ability to run for that office only as a result of a yearslong immigration fraud, and then she compounded her lack of fitness to serve by defrauding a federal bankruptcy court,” Mr. Bharara said.

Ms. Rosa also admitted that she had received $1,000 from a representative of a foreign government in connection with her election to the Assembly, a violation of the campaign finance laws, and she agreed to return the money, her plea agreement says.

Although she faces a maximum of 10 years in prison when sentenced on Oct. 3, the plea agreement says that both sides have agreed that the recommended guideline range is 12 to 18 months.

Feds letting criminals loose

From the NY Post:

The Obama administration in 2013 released nearly 68,000 undocumented immigrants who had criminal records – many of them in New York and New Jersey, according to a new review of immigration data.

The shocking numbers came from a report released Monday by the Center for Immigration Studies, a conservative think tank that studies immigration patterns.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement data showed that New York’s ICE office released 5,391 – about 71 percent of the 7,571 criminal undocumented immigrants it encountered, a rate second only to San Antonio, which released 79 percent.

The Newark office came in fourth, releasing 2,149 about 60 percent of 3,581, right behind third-place Washington DC, which released 64 percent.