NEW YORK, USA – Federal immigration officials revealed on Thursday that at least two of the migrants charged in the shocking caught-on-video attack on two NYPD cops in Times Square are members of the notorious Venezuelan street gang “Tren de Aragua.” The two migrants, Wilson Juarez, 21, and Kelvin Servita-Arocha, 19, are being held without bail by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials as reputed members of the gang.
ICE spokeswoman Marie Ferguson stated that “Both noncitizens have been identified as members of the Tren de Aragua transnational criminal organization.”
Juarez and Arocha were found and arrested by immigration agents inside a Bronx apartment. Arocha was arrested on an ICE warrant, and Juarez was picked up on a deportation order from a judge in El Paso, Texas one year ago.
The revelation comes as a second migrant linked to the Times Square attack became just the second to be ordered held without bail in the Big Apple, while another was hit with a $100,000 cash bail. Darwin Andres Gomez-Izquiel, 19, who was initially released without bail after the Jan. 27 beatdown of two of New York’s Finest, was shipped off to Rikers Island on Wednesday night after getting busted again for allegedly shoplifting at a Queens Macy’s department store.
The decision to jail Gomez-Izquiel came hours before 21-year-old Ulises Bohorquez became the eighth migrant arraigned in the cowardly assault and ordered held on a $100,000 cash bail or a $250,000 bond. A contingent of NYPD cops were in court for the proceedings.
At least two other suspects are believed to be involved in the incident, with as many as 14 suspects believed to have taken part in the attack.
According to court filings by the Manhattan DA’s Office, Yohenry Brito was the initial instigator during the Jan. 27 incident, and Juarez and Arocha were later taken into custody by federal immigration authorities.
It is unclear if ICE has linked any of the migrants other than Juarez and Arochoa to Tren de Aragua, with the name stemming from the gang’s origins as a railroad labor union in the Venezuelan province of Aragua.
The NYPD recently issued warnings about the South American gang infiltrating the five boroughs after members have sneaked into the country requesting asylum. The Post reported that National Guard troops, who patrol migrant shelters in the Empire State, were urged to keep an eye out for distinctive Tren de Aragua tattoos on incoming asylum seekers.