The same day the Trump administration announced sweeping new changes to federal immigration enforcement – including heavily broadening the category of deportable “criminal aliens – Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials busted an illegal alien MS-13 member after local law enforcement in New York City ignored an immigration detainer and released him from custody.
Officers with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) arrested a self-admitted MS-13 gang member Feb. 16 after he was released from New York City custody with an active ICE detainer in place. The Salvadoran national has a criminal history in the U.S. which includes reckless endangerment in the second degree, criminal possession of a weapon in the fourth degree, and disorderly conduct.
After serving time from criminal disorderly conduct, ICE officials stated Estivan Rafael Marques Velasquez was released from local custody on Feb. 16 in Queens, New York, one of dozens of cities across the United States that refuses to cooperate with federal immigration officials. Federal immigration officials filed a detainer for Velasquez back in May of last year, stating they intended to take custody of him once he’d served his time at Riker’s Island.
New York law enforcement, as per their policy, did not honor the detainer.
"ICE filed the detainer May 3, 2016 with the Rikers Island Correctional facility where he was released with disregard for the active detainer," immigration officials said in a statement following Velasquez's arrest.
In their statement, ICE officials noted that Marques had crossed the border illegally into the United States, adding that “On July 28, 2014, he was issued a Notice to Appear. In Nov. 2015, Marques was ordered removed by an immigration judge.”
"This man is by his own admission a member of a violent street gang and he was released back into the community. Honoring a detainer request is not about politics, it is about keeping New York citizens safe,” said Thomas R. Decker, field office director for ERO New York in the statement. “ICE continues to welcome changes to the city’s current policy which is creating a potentially unsafe environment for its residents. ICE remains steadfast in solidifying its relationship with local law enforcement in the interest of public safety and national security.”