(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) An illegal alien was busted by federal immigration authorities following his release by a state judge on charges related to the squatting of a Bronx home, according to the New York Post on Friday.
Yerbin Benjamin Lozada Munoz, a Venezuelan national suspected of having ties to the notorious gang Tren De Aragua, was apprehended in Long Island, New York.
He had been released on bail after the NYPD found him inside a squatted apartment with what investigators claimed to be firearms and drugs.
Despite being released by a Bronx judge on state charges, he is now facing federal felony charges of grand larceny in the fourth degree, as reported by the Post.
According to the outlet, Nassau County Jail honored an ICE detainer for Munoz, who was apprehended during a traffic stop on Friday. ICE informed the Post that Munoz would remain in federal custody pending removal hearings.
Headline USA confirmed on Friday evening that Munoz is currently detained at the Moshannon Valley ICE Processing Center in Pennsylvania.
The apprehended illegal alien entered the U.S. through Eagle Pass, Texas, in October 2022, but like many other undocumented immigrants, he was granted parole by the Biden administration due to overcrowding at a processing center, ICE told the Post.
Munoz’s arrest comes amid several high-profile cases of property occupation making headlines. One such case involved Nadia Vitel, a New York woman who was brutally murdered by alleged two individuals who had squatted at her deceased mother’s home.
In another incident in New York, a segment aired by ABC 7’s Eyewitness News went viral after a homeowner confronted individuals allegedly squatting in her inherited property.
The death of Nadia Vitel, 52, at 206 East 31st Street in Kips Bay, has officially been ruled a homicide by blunt force trauma to the head.
The superintendent recalls helping family members enter the apartment, after they couldn’t reach her.
They discovered signs of a struggle… pic.twitter.com/jGMPQtIavH
— Crime In NYC (@CrimeInNYC) March 16, 2024
The segment gained attention when the homeowner, rather than the squatters, was arrested by the NYPD after changing the locks, an act considered illegal under New York City squatting laws.
A 47-year-old New York City woman, Adele Andaloro, has been arrested for attempting to remove squatters from her own Flushing, Queens home.
While in the process of trying to sell the $1 million home left to her by her parents, squatters moved in and refused to leave.
And… pic.twitter.com/aITi216A70
— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) March 19, 2024
Moreover, Munoz’s Friday apprehension, following his release in 2022, adds to the growing concerns stemming from the unrestricted movement of illegal immigrants allegedly associated with criminal gangs in the U.S.
New York City has been impacted by what the NYPD described as a surge in criminal activity linked to immigrant gangs.
Many critics blame such an uptick in crime on President Joe Biden, who currently faces declining approval ratings due to his poor handling of the southern border crisis. Similarly, DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas stands as the only cabinet member to have been impeached by the House of Representatives since 1876.
Mayorkas’s impeachment, focused on allegations of false claims regarding border security and purported reluctance to enforce federal immigration laws, is currently pending in the Democratic-controlled Senate, where it is not expected to pass.
