NYC migrant squatters found with drugs and guns were previously caught at southern border and released: ICE

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Migrants found squatting in NYC apartment with child facing gun and drug charges

A group of eight migrant squatters who shared an apartment with a child are facing gun and drug charges. (Credit: WNYW)

The eight Venezuelan illegal immigrant squatters arrested last week after they were found in a New York City home with drugs and guns were previously apprehended at the southern border and released into the U.S., with one suspected of attempted murder, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials confirmed Wednesday. 

Immigration authorities arrested three of the squatters again on Wednesday, and lodged detainer requests for four others being held in local custody, ICE told Fox News. One remains on the loose. 

New York police busted the migrants on March 27 after authorities were called to a Bronx apartment following a report of a person displaying a gun, police said. 

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A group of eight illegal migrants who were found squatting in a Bronx, N.Y., apartment are now facing guns and weapons charges. All had been previously caught at the southern border and released, authorities said.  (WNYW)

When police arrived, they found a man pointing a gun at someone in the driveway of the apartment at 3259 Hull Ave., NYPD Chief of Patrol John Chell told the New York Post. The suspect took off when the police approached him and fled into the building’s basement, he added.

Arrested again

Some of the migrant squatters arrested last week were released. On Wednesday, three of them were taken into custody by federal authorities. Immigration authorities also lodged detainer requests for four migrants being held in local custody, an ICE spokesperson said. 

One of the migrants arrested Wednesday was identified as Hector Desousa-Villalta, 24, who was previously arrested in August. 

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Four guns, magazines, ammunition and drugs were found in a suspected migrant squatters' home. (NYPD)

Desousa-Villalta, who was allegedly waving the gun last Wednesday, was initially cut loose without bail despite the Bronx District Attorney's Office telling Fox News that prosecutors asked that he be held on $150,000 bail.

He allegedly shot a fellow migrant in the leg during an argument over a woman in Yonkers in August 2023, but the attempted murder case fell apart when the victim refused to cooperate, Chell said, according to the New York Post.

"On Aug. 28, 2023, the Yonkers Police Department arrested De Sousa for the crimes of assault-1st: intent to cause serious injury with a weapon; and murder second degree: with intent," an ICE statement said. 

Entered through southern border

Two other people — Yoessy Pino Castillo, 20, and Yojairo Martinez, 42 — were also arrested as federal authorities raided the home. Castillo was encountered by border authorities in Brownsville, Texas, on May 6, 2023, and released. 

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She was arrested in New Jersey on Jan. 6, by the Woodbridge Police Department on suspicion of shoplifting and burglary tool manufacturing. Castillo and six other migrants face multiple charges, including weapons possession, having a loaded firearm and possession of a controlled substance. 

Martinez was arrested by U.S. Border Patrol agents on Sept. 22, 2022, near El Paso, Texas, and released. All three will remain in custody while authorities begin deportation proceedings, ICE said. 

A group of eight migrant squatters who shared an apartment with a child are facing gun and drug charges. (WNYW)

The three migrants subject to ICE detainers are Johan Jose Cardenas Silva, Yerbin Benjamin Lozada Munoz and Javier Jose Albornoz Marchan.

Silva entered the U.S. on Oct. 3, 2022 in Cardenas Del Rio, Texas, but was determined to have entered the country illegally at another time. In March 2023, a judge ordered him deported. However, he was released from custody on Oct. 6, 2023, but never reported to ICE. 

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Munoz was taken into custody by border authorities near Eagle Pass, Texas, on Oct. 3, 2022, before being released. 

Marchan entered the U.S. on May 6, 2023, near El Paso. He was arrested several times for suspected shoplifting, weapons possession, having a loaded firearm on school grounds and possession of a controlled substance with intent to sell. 

Miguel Gregerio Barrios is the lone migrant suspect being sought.