In NYC, the Revolving Door is Wide Open for Criminal Aliens

An illegal alien with a lengthy history of criminal charges—including assault and possession of a firearm—had been released from custody ten times over the last two years by the New York City Police Department (NYPD), according to a new report from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

This month, Jhonny Alejandro Soto-Ubaldo, a Dominican national, was finally placed in the custody of U.S. Marshals. Ignoring the requests to detain Soto-Ubaldo enabled him to roam freely in the country since May.

Soto-Ubaldo entered the United States in 2016 on a six-month visitor’s visa, but overstayed the visa and never left the country.

Since 2018, Soto-Ubaldo has been nothing but trouble. He has had arrests for harassment, grand larceny, assault, firearms , and possession of stolen property. These arrests do not include any immigration-related crimes that may have occurred while he remained in the country illegally for roughly four years.

New York City’s sanctuary laws—or laws that the prohibit the cooperation between local and state law enforcement with federal immigration authorities like ICE—end up releasing dangerous criminal illegal aliens into communities.

The city’s sanctuary status has jeopardized public safety and undermined the rule of law. Between 2018 and 2019, the NYPD likely freed some 3,000 criminal illegal aliens from custody—many of whom likely ended up committing additional crimes when these crimes could have been prevented in the first place by simply cooperating with orders to detain criminals temporarily.

In the last two decades, sanctuary jurisdictions have proliferated nationwide. In 2000, there were a mere 11 sanctuary jurisdictions. Today, this number stands at more than 564. The proliferation of these havens for deportable criminals is a sign of concern and should be a focal point for politicians and voters.