Merriam-Webster’s dictionary defines the word “sanctuary” as “a place of refuge and protection.”
New York City may be proud of its “sanctuary city” status for illegal immigrants — but its residents and police department may have to look elsewhere for protection.
On Saturday night, two NYPD officers were brutally attacked by a group of migrants in Times Square, according to the New York Post.
🎥 WATCH: Two @NYPD officers were recently beaten by migrants and released without bail.@POTUS & @SecMayorkas have turned the American dream into the American nightmare. pic.twitter.com/oUjxjFnmQN
— Rep. Anthony D’Esposito (@RepDesposito) January 31, 2024
The shocking video footage shows the officers initially telling the group to move along before a scuffle broke out with one man, who is wrestled to the ground.
Several other men then converged on the officers, kicking them repeatedly as they continued struggling with the first man.
The officers were injured in the attack, receiving cuts to the face and bruising on the body, according to the Post.
Four men were initially arrested and charged with assault, according to sources. A fifth man was later arrested on Monday and charged. All five were released without bail, according to WNYW-TV.
The station’s report from Wednesday is below:
Busted for attacking cops — and released without bail. That’s “justice,” New York style.
One of the suspects, identified as a 24-year-old named Yorman Reveron, has two other cases against him, according to sources cited by the New York Post.
In November, Reveron allegedly attacked a Nordstrom Rack employee who caught him shoplifting from the Union Square store, according to the Post. Law enforcement sources told the newspaper that Reveron “pushed, punched and bit “the employee who tried to stop him. He’s also accused of punching a loss prevention officer at the Herald Square Macy’s after attempting a robbery with two other people.
Do Democrat-run cities need to overhaul their justice system?
In 2022, Thomas R. Decker, field office director for Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s enforcement and removal operations, was quoted in a report on the ICE website saying, “I don’t know what it will take for the representatives of New York City to see that keeping their sanctuary city policies are dangerous to the residents of this great city and, in some cases, deadly.”
“Their policies continue to shield criminal aliens, allowing them to seek refuge in NYC communities and allows them to continue to break the laws of this country, which threaten the lives and safety of its citizens. At some point, the lives and safety of the residents of NYC has to matter over the agendas of the politicians.”
That was in 2022.
Between the spring of that year and the end of 2023, 172000 more migrants were added, according to the Post, to the already-overflowing streets of New York City, thanks to President Joe Biden’s open border policies.
Incidents of migrant-related lawlessness are on the rise.
Nearly 100 migrants have appeared on the NYPD’s radar as suspected pickpockets, according to the Post. One group was arrested over the weekend for allegedly targeting patrons at bars in Greenwich Village.
Additionally, city residents living near the Floyd Bennett Field shelter in Brooklyn have complained of disorderly conduct by its migrant occupants. The 2,000-bed tent facility opened earlier this year.
The intake shelter at the Roosevelt Hotel in Midtown Manhattan has also faced issues, according to the Post. By September, about 40 migrants had been arrested there amidst the continual influx of asylum seekers into the city, the Post reported.
Seeking asylum is an appeal for refuge and protection. It comes with a responsibility to follow the laws and contribute positively to your new community.
This is especially true in New York City – a sanctuary city struggling with budgets, housing shortages and crime.
Beating up law enforcement officers while appealing for “sanctuary” from alleged danger in your own home country would be immediate grounds for deportation under any sane system of government.
But this is New York, where District Attorney Alvin Bragg‘s soft-on-crime policies enable repeat offenders to walk free and commit new crimes.
Those offenders include Daniel Hernandez Martinez, who was arrested and released – a Venezuelan migrant who arrived in New York in July and was arrested six times on 14 different charges in a two-month period, according to a New York Post report from Sept. 2.
Meet Daniel Hernandez Martinez, a Venezuelan migrant who arrived in NYC recently and has been on a crime spree since he arrived. So far he’s committed 14 crimes and been arrested 6 times.
Those crimes include theft, assaulting a journalist, pulling a knife on an undercover… pic.twitter.com/J5SrQRxNBn
— 🇺🇸Travis🇺🇸 (@Travis_in_Flint) September 17, 2023
Patrick Hendry, president of the Police Benevolent Association, says it’s a “revolving door,” according to the Post.
In a statement about the attacks on Saturday, Hendry said, “Attacks on police officers are becoming an epidemic, and the reason is a revolving door we’re seeing in cases like this one, the Post reported.
Revealing the sense of hopelessness among New Yorkers and the city’s police, Hendry added, “It is impossible for police officers to deal effectively with crime and disorder if the justice system can’t or won’t protect us while we do that work.”
In New York City these days, it’s not criminal migrants that need “sanctuary.” It’s the police.
