November 7, 2024

ICE arrests Venezuelan illegal migrants released without bail after assault on NYPD at Target

Four illegal immigrants who were part of a group arrested and then released after allegedly robbing a New York City Target store – an incident during which two police officers were attacked – have been detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and likely face deportation, the federal agency tells Fox News.

On Wednesday, ICE picked up Venezuelan citizens Michael Jose Sanchez Mayo, 31, Henry Omar Zambrano Zapata, 19, and Yusneibi Yohana Machado Avila, 23, along with Sebastian Jaramillio Balanta, 22, who is from Colombia, about a week after the crew allegedly raided the Upper East Side store.

“All four unlawfully present noncitizens were arrested without incident due to the violation of their DHS release conditions and are in custody pending removal proceedings,” an ICE spokesperson told Fox News.

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Migrants arrested by ICE after Target robbery

From left to right, Yusneibi Yohana Machado Avila, Sebastian Jaramillio Balanta, Michael Jose Sanchez Mayo and Henry Omar Zambrano Zapata. (Fox News)

ICE has also lodged a detainer request for another illegal migrant, Venezuelan Brayan Freites-Macias, 21, who is being held at Rikers jail and was the only member of the five not to be released.

According to a criminal complaint, Freites-Macias shoved one of the officers who was trying to handcuff him, then yelled in Spanish at Machado Avila, his female accomplice, to flee the scene. 

Machado Avila then placed herself in between Freites-Macias and the police officer before striking the officer in the head with her hand, the complaint reads. 

WOMAN ARRESTED FOR MIGRANT ATTACK ON NYPD, 2 SUSPECTS STILL AT LARGE

As the struggle spilled out onto the sidewalk in front of the Target, another suspect, who is still at large, threw rocks at responding officers but missed, according to the complaint. 

One officer was hospitalized and treated for “substantial pain” and a sprained wrist. 

Five migrants were arrested in total, while a sixth has yet to be apprehended. 

The Target store in the Upper East Side

The Target store on the Upper East Side the police say the group robbed. (Google Maps)

Both Machado Avila and Freites-Macias were charged with robbery, assault, resisting arrest, obstructing governmental administration, criminal possession of stolen property, disorderly conduct and harassment, the New York Post reports. 

Machado Avila was cut loose under supervised release without bail despite a request from prosecutors that she be held on $10,000 bail, prosecutors tell Fox News Digital. 

Prosecutors requested that Freites-Macias be held on $10,000 bail or a $30,000 bond, and Manhattan Criminal Court Judge Jay Wiener ordered him held on $3,000 bail or a $9,000 bond. 

The remaining three were charged with robbery and disorderly conduct.

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Last week’s incident was not the first time the migrants brushed with the law. 

The New York Post reports that Freites-Macias, who is currently being held in Rikers, has also been charged in several other incidents, including for trespassing in January for refusing to leave a migrant shelter after being booted out, and for shoplifting in December.

Of the four detained by ICE, Machado Avila, pictured in a mugshot with a broken heart tattoo on her neck, was busted on Jan. 18 for trespassing at a migrant shelter she had been discharged from. She was also charged with assault for an incident last month in which she allegedly scratched a 34-year-old woman during an argument on East 124th Street, Post sources say.

Jaramillio Balanta, meanwhile, was charged with assault in October for allegedly punching a 42-year-old man in the face at Grand Central Terminal while he was arrested for petit theft the following month and then booked for grand larceny in March.

Sanchez Mayo also has three separate petit larceny arrests and two separate robbery charges in New York City.