On CNN’s “NewsNight,” host Abby Phillip discussed the recent assault on New York police officers, emphasizing that the issue extends beyond migrants and could apply to anyone.
Former NYPD Sergeant and Detective Felipe Rodriguez explained that while the situation could involve anyone, the ease with which migrants escape and use false identities is abnormal.
“There are so many people now making this about — solely about the migrants. But is that really fair, when it seems like, whether they were migrants or not, we might be facing this very same issue with anyone?” asked Phillip.
Rodriguez replied, “It could be. But before, the way the laws were cited, and the way they were done, an individual had to be first identified. We had — we looked and investigated if they had ties with the community, then, sometimes, bail was set. This could happen to anybody. But the fact that the migrants were able to so easily to escape and just [be] released, how do we identify these people? Obviously, when they attempted to escape again, they used another false name. So, this is normal — this is not normal behavior for individuals that are not into criminal activity, and we’ve seen it by some of the prior arrests that some of them already had.”
Phillip followed up, “But does that really have anything to do with whether or not they’re migrants? Obviously, the number of migrants in the city is an issue, but all those things that you described could have been done by American citizens.”
Rodriguez responded, “No, that’s true. We can’t really make this a migrant issue. The situation is that, right now, the way they’re living, things aren’t perfect, and sometimes people do turn to criminal activity. But, as a criminal justice system, we have to look at gang assault and the severity of these crimes. We just can’t say, everyone should be released.”
Phillip highlighted that these actions are not exclusive to migrants, and Rodriguez agreed, emphasizing the need to address criminal behavior regardless of immigration status.
