One of the migrants who kicked a cop during the now-infamous Times Square brawl has been nabbed by federal immigration agents after serving a slap-on-the-wrist jail sentence for the assault.
Darwin Andres Gomez-Izquiel — part of a gang of unruly thugs involved in the beatdown of two NYPD officers cops on Jan. 27 — served only three-quarters of a one-year sentence.
But he found the feds waiting when he was released on Oct. 10, officials with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement said this week.
ICE didn’t get a helping hand from city authorities, sources said — the feds tracked the case through media reports and social media posts.
“Gomez-Izquiel is a criminal and threat to the public servants, residents and businesses of New York City,” New York City Field Office Director Kenneth Genalo said in a statement Wenesday. “We will not allow our communities to become safe havens for noncitizens who refuse to abide our laws.”
The Venezuelan migrant pleaded guilty to his role in the assault in July but received a lenient “city year” sentence — a 364-day term that is part of the state’s soft-on-crime reforms.
The “1 Day to Protect New Yorkers Act” was one of several moves by state lawmakers to curtail harsher penalties for criminal suspects in the state first enacted in 2019.
The sentence of one day short of a year allows jailed suspects to qualify for earlier release and is at least in part designed to allow misbehaving migrants to get early release and to dodge deportation.
City inmates are often released after serving three-fourths of their sentences, as Gomez-Izquiel was.
“The ‘city year’ was a way for them to circumvent immigration laws,” a Department of Homeland Security source told The Post. “That’s what they did. They were aiming to shield immigrants from deportation.
“When it involves violence, there’s no way you should give them a city year.”
Officials with the city Department of Correction said Gomez-Izquiel was locked up from Feb. 15 to Oct. 10 and released from Rikers Island after serving his time for second-degree assault. He was then taken into custody by ICE “consistent with local law.”
New York’s “sanctuary status” designation has often put city officials at odds with the feds.
The self-imposed status typically bars local cooperation with immigration authorities, who often find themselves showing up to grab a migrant for deportation only to learn he or she has been released.
Gomez-Izquiel was part of the high-profile mob of migrants that jumped the two police officers, with the attack caught on surveillance video — sparking outrage throughout the five boroughs.
He first crossed the US border at Rio Grande Valley in Texas on Aug. 23, 2023, and was sent packing after he withdrew his asylum request two days later, ICE said.
Gomez-Izquiel was caught at the border again on Oct. 3, 2023, and this time was allowed to remain pending an immigration hearing scheduled for June 4 of this year — but was in jail by the time the date came around.
One law enforcement source credited The Post and other media outlets for keeping the public eye on Gomez-Izquiel and other developments in the case, making it easier for ICE to nab him.
“If this weren’t in the papers he would have been released,” the source said. “It’s a step in the right direction.”
— Additional reporting by Amanda Woods
Read the full article here
