- Four migrants were arrested after allegedly shoplifting $12,000 from Macy’s
- Wrallan Cabezas Meza, 19, Miguel Angel Rojas, 21, Rafael Rojas, 27, and Jose Garcia Escobar, 30, are accused of driving from NYC to Garden City for the heist
- It’s unclear when the individuals came from the border to New York
- An estimated 40,000 asylum seekers have come to NYC in the last year
- Last week, Mayor Eric Adams said ‘there is no more room’ for asylum seekers
Earlier this month, four migrants who were transferred to New York City from the U.S.-Mexico border on buses were apprehended for allegedly stealing thousands of dollars worth in merchandise.
Wrallan Cabezas Meza (19 years old), Miguel Angel Rojas (21 years old), Rafael Rojas (27 years old) and Jose Garcia Escobar (30 years old) are accused of making a journey from Manhattan to Nassau County, Long Island with the aim of pilfering $12,489 worth of merchandise from Macy’s Roosevelt Field mall.
Since Republican governors began sending migrants to New York City last year, an estimated 40,000 asylum seekers have arrived in the Big Apple.
Last week, Mayor Eric Adams made the news after he declared ‘there is no more room’ following his prior statement that the city would forever be open to migrants.
Since autumn, buses transporting asylum seekers from the US-Mexican border have been arriving in New York City; this is due largely to Republican governors Ron DeSantis of Florida and Greg Abbott of Texas sending these migrants to cities that generally vote Democratic.
According to Nassau County police, the group informed a detective conversant in Spanish that they had arrived at New York by means of a bus originating from Texas.
At 8:30 pm on January 9th, law enforcement rushed to the Macy’s incident. Immediately they scoured for any vehicle that had hastily left after a robbery took place.
While on patrol, officers spotted a motorist driving along Ring Road in Garden City who was allegedly committing multiple traffic violations.
After Meza failed to make a turn signal, law enforcement officers pulled over the 2006 BMW with counterfeit license plates.
Long lines of migrants form outside of ICE headquarters in NYC
Detective Lieutenant Richard Lebrun reported that after being apprehended, the suspects revealed to him how they traveled to New York.
At present it is unclear when they traveled from the border to New York City.
Nassau County officials declared that Meza had crossed the U.S.-Mexico border on Independence Day, July 4th, 2022 while his companions followed suit in September of the same year.
As per reports from local authorities, Miguel and Rafael Rojas have been residing at the Westin Hotel on 57th Street in Manhattan ever since their arrival.
The quartet of men were all indicted with third-degree grand larceny, leaving the mystery as to what they stole from the department store.
Meza, the driver of the vehicle, was slapped with multiple traffic citations.
On January 10, the group was presented at First District court in Hempstead for arraignment.
Escobar and Rafael were granted their freedom, yet details on Meza and Miguel’s court proceedings remain unknown.
‘Why isn’t this considered a disaster? This is a crisis,’ Adams said of the border crisis
‘Here in Nassau County, our law enforcement will be relentless in apprehending and prosecuting criminals,’ proclaimed Bruce Blakeman, the county executive.
According to Newsday, law enforcement suspects the four may be related to a South American criminal enterprise.
At a Monday press conference, Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman commended Mayor Eric Adams for his “change of tune” concerning the border crisis.
Blakeman was alluding to Adams’ recent journey to the border and his later interviews in which he referred to the situation there as a ‘disaster’, after having visited El Paso.
Adams said FEMA should be stepping in to assist in the ‘disaster’
‘Why isn’t this considered a disaster? This is a crisis,’ Adams told The New York Post at the end of his visit.
He lamented from Texas, “It appears that no one is leading the charge for a national effort.”
Pleading for assistance, he implored FEMA – the Federal Emergency Management Agency – to do its job.
Adams had ardently requested a billion dollars to provide aid in the wake of this crisis.