"It has become evident that foreign-based criminal organizations like Tren de Aragua have been using taxpayer-funded shelters across the city as a base for their illicit activities, which include organized theft, robbery, assaults, sex trafficking, and in some cases, murder," Council Minority Leader Joe Borelli (R-Staten Island) wrote in a Thursday letter co-signed by five other Republicans and four Democrats.
"Unfortunately, due to the confluence of recent criminal justice reforms and the sanctuary city laws in this city and state, these foreign national criminals have been operating with impunity," Borelli wrote.
"This is supported by numerous news reports, victim and witness accounts and NYPD data that shows spikes in these criminal patterns in neighborhoods near migrant shelters."
At the beginning of the city's migrant crisis in 2022, there were 1,600 arrests at city shelters, up 53% from 1,045 the previous year and 73% from 924 in 2020, according to NYPD records.
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