While protesters go after ICE agents trying to remove criminal aliens from American communities, Long Island residents say they are living with the consequences of years of open-border policies: murders, gang assaults, sexual attacks and fear in neighborhoods that once felt safe.
The outrage intensified after Suffolk District Attorney Raymond A. Tierney announced the indictment of Antonio Melendez Reyes, 59, a Salvadoran national accused of raping a 16-year-old girl in an alley off New York Avenue in Huntington as she walked to her home.
“The open-door policies of Joe Biden have allowed this to happen,” said Huntington resident Alberto Pena as he stood with friends across from the New York Avenue alley where the attack occurred. “He let in thousands of illegal immigrants, many of them criminals in their own countries, and they come into our communities to commit these acts.”
Pena, who came to the United States legally as a child, also blamed New York’s sanctuary policies under Gov. Kathy Hochul and the Progressive Democrats.
“You’re telling people to come here, break the law, and they will be protected,” Pena said. “No one who obeys the law agrees with this.”
President Donald Trump, who campaigned on closing the border and deporting illegal immigrants, routinely cites figures showing 425,431 convicted criminal aliens on ICE’s non-detained docket, including 13,099 convicted of homicide, 15,811 convicted of sexual assault, 62,231 convicted of assault and 2,521 convicted of kidnapping. After a standoff with Democrats in Congress, Republicans recently pushed through nearly $70 billion in enforcement funding, including tens of billions for ICE operations and deportations, to go after them.
“President Trump takes a lot of heat for saying that countries emptied out their jails and mental institutions into the United States under Joe Biden,” said Frank D’Orio of Huntington Station. “Now we’re living with the consequences. It’s a sad day in America when a young girl gets attacked walking down a busy street by someone who shouldn’t be here in the first place.”
Ray Lopez, an Emergency Removal Associate with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, said cases involving criminal charges and immigration enforcement often move in stages. If a defendant is arrested by Suffolk County, he said, the local criminal case generally comes first.
“He will be getting charged in Suffolk County for committing the crime in the location,” Lopez said. “He’s doing the sentence for Suffolk County and then he’ll come to us.”
An ICE detainer has been lodged against Melendez Reyes, meaning federal authorities are seeking custody of him after the Suffolk prosecution.
ICE operations on Long Island and cities across the country have attracted organized protests, many of which have turned destructive. Property has been destroyed, and agents have been killed.
“Unfortunately, forces exist that want chaos in this country,” D’Orio noted. “It’s hard to believe that everyday Americans don’t want criminal aliens taken out of here.”
Assemblyman Joseph DeStefano said New York’s cashless bail laws have made the problem worse.
“For many crimes, the perpetrators are released immediately and go back out and commit more crimes,” DeStefano said. “Our whole system of justice has broken down thanks to Albany, and our communities have become less safe.”
State Senator Mario Mattera, who represents the area where the attacks took place, stressed that anyone charged with rape belongs in jail, and illegal immigrants accused of violent crimes must be detained immediately.
“ICE needs to be involved ASAP,” Mattera said. “They need to be detained so they don’t go out to commit more crimes. Law-abiding citizens don’t want to see them out in the street.”
Huntington attorney Paul Sabatino said he has seen a noticeable change in the area since President Trump returned to office, particularly around intersections where large groups of day laborers and undocumented immigrants had gathered for years. He believes the administration’s tougher enforcement posture and emphasis on self-deportation prompted many to leave.
“All of a sudden, maybe about April or May of last year, it totally disappeared,” Sabatino said. “That accumulation of people just standing in the parking lot on the corner evaporated.”
The Trump Administration is offering illegal aliens $2,006 to self-deport, and will be given an opportunity to apply for legal citizenship. Those who are deported will not have an easy time of it.
Reyes was ordered held on $500,000 cash bail, a $1 million bond, or a $5 million partially secured bond. He faces up to 25 years in prison if convicted. Calls to his attorney, Scott Lockwood, went unanswered.