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Iowa Makes It Legal to Arrest Illegal Migrants
On the evening of April 10, Iowa Republican Governor Kim Reynolds signed Senate File 2340, which makes it a crime for illegal migrants to enter or re-enter the state if they have been deported or denied admission to the US. “The Biden Administration has failed to enforce our nation’s immigration laws, putting the protection and safety of Iowans at risk,” the governor said in a statement. “Those who come into our country illegally have broken the law, yet Biden refuses to deport them. This law gives Iowa law enforcement the power to do what he is unwilling to do: enforce immigration law already on the books.”
The law makes entering or re-entering the state if they were deported or prohibited from entry an aggravated misdemeanor, which could get migrants arrested and sentenced to potentially two years in prison. However, that offense will be upgraded to a felony if the immigrant had drug-related crimes, prior felony convictions, or crimes against people, Fox News explained. Law enforcement, though, can’t arrest suspected migrants at medical facilities, places of worship, or schools.
Other states, such as Louisiana, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, and Tennessee, have similar proposed laws in the pipeline. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) was criticized for something much like this, leading Mexico’s government to weigh in on the matter and make clear they wouldn’t take the criminal migrants back.
Iowa’s law goes into effect July 1.
Illegal Immigrants Rob Target and Attack Police Officers
Last week, six migrants allegedly robbed a Target store in New York City and attacked two police officers. On Wednesday, April 10, ICE picked up four of the suspects – three from Venezuela and one from Columbia: Michael Jose Sanchez Mayo, 31; Henry Omar Zambrano Zapata, 19; and Yusneibi Yohana Machado Avila, 23; Sebastian Jaramillo Balanta, 22. “All four unlawfully present noncitizens were arrested without incident due to the violation of the DHS release conditions and are in custody pending removal proceedings,” an ICE spokesperson told Fox News. Another suspect, Brayan Freites-Macias, 21, also of Venezuela, is still being held at Rikers Island, and a sixth has not yet been apprehended.
The migrants have previous records for various crimes. Freites-Macias, who is still incarcerated, has been charged with several incidents, including shoplifting in December, and refusing to leave a migrant shelter after he was kicked out in January.
Machado Avila was also caught trying to trespass at a shelter in January, plus an assault in March for scratching a woman during an argument.
Jaramillio Balanta was charged in October for assault, reportedly punching a 42-year-old man in the face at Grand Central Terminal. In November he was arrested for petit theft, and then in March, he was booked for grand larceny.
Sanchez Mayo has two different robbery charges and three separate petit larceny arrests.
Migrant Influencer Says He’s a Victim of Persecution
Leonel Moreno, a Venezuelan migrant, mocked Americans on his TikTok account, telling his 500,000 followers to cross the border and “invade abandoned houses.” Now that he has been arrested for, among other things, not showing up to his required check-in with immigration officers as part of Biden’s parole program, the illegal immigrant claimed to be a victim of persecution in an exclusive interview with the New York Post.
“I came here to the United States because of persecution in my country … But they’re doing the same thing to me in the United States – Persecuting me,” he told The Post. He continued:
“It’s all misinformation in the media about me. They’re defaming me. They’re misrepresenting me in the news … I am a good father, a good husband, a good son, a good person, humble, respectful to people who respect me.
“I miss my entire life – I miss my freedom!”
Moreno could also be facing federal firearm charges. Several videos from March 14 on his Instagram account show him holding firearms in a gun store and asking, “Which do you like best?”
But Moreno claims social media is his job and is claiming First Amendment rights as his defense. “I didn’t cross the Rio Grande to work like a slave,” he said in one social media clip while waving a stack of $100 bills. He told The Post that his social media personality is a fictional character. “The person who is in my videos, my character, is not the same person as Leonel Moreno. I am a different person. We can’t confuse one with the other. We can’t confuse my character with my real life.”
Mr. Moreno complained that the US is no longer a free country and blames his arrest on his job and not because he committed a crime. “If I want to say something now, I can’t say it … We’ve become an oppressive country instead of a free country where we can express whatever is in our hearts … The United States was created to be that, not to oppress.”
What will next week bring us in Open Borders America?