Federal immigration authorities are accusing New York City officials of releasing a convicted child sex offender living unlawfully in the United States back onto city streets, sparking backlash from federal agents and even — Democrats.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents arrested Raymond Rojas Basilio, a 36-year-old Mexican national, on Tuesday near his residence in Queens, according to an announcement from the agency. After failing to successfully cross illegally into the U.S. on five separate occasions, Rojas eventually entered the country undetected and was later convicted of sexually touching a child under 11 years old.
“This criminal has repeatedly shown he has absolutely no regard for our nation’s laws as evidenced by his repeated attempts to unlawfully or fraudulently enter the United States,” Field Office Director Kenneth Genalo said in a prepared statement.
“As this case illustrates, it only takes one successful unlawful entry to do irreparable harm to a member of our community,” Genalo continued. “Unfortunately, non-cooperation policies prevented ERO from taking immediate custody of this individual upon completion of his local sentence; however, due to the diligence of our officers, ERO New York City was able to rapidly apprehend this public safety threat before he could harm any other New Yorkers.”
Rojas attempted to cross the U.S.-Mexico border on three separate occasions during the month of May 2002, but was apprehended by Border Patrol agents each time and returned to his home country of Mexico, according to ICE. On Jan. 6, 2012, and again on Jan. 11, 2012, Rojas attempted to be admitted into the U.S. by presenting fraudulent documentation, but he was removed both times.
The Mexican national was eventually able to enter the country on an unknown date without admission by any immigration official.
The New York City Police Department arrested Rojas in August 2023 for sexually abusing “an individual less than 11-years-old” and was ultimately convicted by the Kings County Supreme Court of forcible touching of the intimate parts of the victim in September, according to ICE. However, the agency is accusing local authorities of releasing him from custody before federal immigration authorities could lodge a detainer request.
The incident has renewed criticism from Republicans and Democrats alike over New York City’s liberal sanctuary city laws, which dramatically restrict how local police can cooperate with ICE agents.
“The arrest of Raymond Rojas Basilio underscores the failures of sanctuary city laws and open-border policies,” NYC Council Member Robert Holden, a Democrat, said in a statement provided to the Daily Caller News Foundation. “Despite being stopped multiple times over 20 years, he was ultimately able to enter illegally and commit a horrific crime against a child in our community.”
“ICE did commendable work in apprehending him, but their job should not be this difficult,” Holden continued. “We must repeal sanctuary city laws to ensure public safety and prevent further tragedies.”
Many of the sanctuary city policies on the books were ushered in by then-NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio. However, in the face of an ongoing migrant crisis in the Big Apple and a slate of high-profile crimes allegedly committed by illegal migrants, a growing number of local politicians are calling for change — including Democrat Mayor Eric Adams.
The mayor met with Tom Homan, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to serve as border czar in the incoming administration, earlier in December to discuss cooperation on immigration enforcement.
“Those who are here committing crimes, robberies, shooting at police officers, raping innocent people, have been a harm to our country, I want to sit down and hear the plan on how we’re going to address them,” Adams said of his desire to work with the Trump administration on removing criminal illegal migrants. The Democrat also dared opponents to “cancel me” for his willingness to crackdown on illegal immigration.
While Adams has grown increasingly hawkish in his rhetoric, local lawmakers like Holden have publicly called on him to turn his “tough talk” into action by taking actual steps to enable ICE’s mission.
A spokesperson for the New York Police Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the DCNF.
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