NEW YORK — There is growing concern among police about an increase in Venezuelan gang activity in New York City.
The NYPD believes that some gang members are recruiting children living in migrant shelters, and that the members have mixed with the asylum seekers who arrived in the Big Apple in 2022.
“Once they commit their crimes, they go back to the immigrant community where they assimilate with people who actually obey the laws here,” said Joseph Kenny, chief of detectives for the NYPD.
NYPD cracks down on Tren de Aragua
Police say Tren de Aragua is the Venezuelan gang living in the shelter system and recruiting children.
“We have 39 members of TDA that have been identified and we have another four members that have been identified of a subgroup called Little Devils of 42nd Street. Those are much younger kids,” Kenny said.
And these are just the members that the police have been able to identify.
“We don’t have any fingerprints on them. We don’t have any photos on them. We don’t have any prior criminal history on them,” Kenny said. ‘They exchange their identity cards. “We have no way of tracking or knowing who they are as they enter the country.”
Kenny said undocumented criminals as young as 11 are committing store robberies and crimes on scooters, such as taking people’s jewelry, watches and cell phones at gunpoint and with a knife. Last year there were more than 300 incidents and this year so far more than 800.
Kenny said they also brutally shot at police officers.
“When we make arrests and we can charge them with four, five, six incidents, when they appear in court in New York City and their arrest record is drawn up, they show no prior criminal history,” Kenny said. . ‘They are released on their own initiative. They will not be offered bail and will be released back to the public.”
Migrant parents fear that gangs will come after their children
Some migrant mothers told CBS News New York they fear their boys will be forced into the world of crime.
“People have warned us to be careful with the child because they are recruiting younger children. It worries me very much,” Airada Pereira said in Spanish.
Pereira and her 11-year-old son, Dillan Batista, live in a migrant shelter in Manhattan. Last year they came from Colombia. When she’s not volunteering at Metro-Baptist Church, she says she’s with her son, warning him about the dangers of gangs.
“We are afraid that he will be recruited and that they will force and manipulate him to do bad things, things that will get him into trouble,” Pereira said.
“I Don’t Want to Be Like Them”
Power Malu, co-founder of Resources Opportunities Connections and Community, tries to keep migrant children off the streets by setting up youth programs, including a football club.
“I definitely know that the football program is important for the kids so that they can get involved in something where they feel they belong, and they have fun as kids, they can support each other, build community and stay away from the streets and you don’t have to to become involved in the violence and gang activities,” Malu said.
So far, more than 60 children ages 5 to 14 have signed up, including Batista.
“It’s fun because we get to eat pizza and I have so many friends and we play,” he said.
He said he doesn’t want to be part of gang life.
“I don’t want to be like them. I don’t want to be bad. I want to be good and help people,” Batista said.
Malu says more resources and spaces are needed to help the nearly 22,000 migrant children in city shelters. They represent 38% of the migrant population currently in the system.
“The newest New Yorkers come here and they don’t have any programs for them, so then they want to do something. They’re looking for something to do. So they’re an easy target,” Malu said.
It’s not just children who are being targeted
The NYPD is working with its federal partners to prevent the gang violence sparking in some migrant shelters from spreading onto city streets and in some cases, investigators say, even among migrant families who are also being targeted.
“What we also see is that the majority of the migrant community, and sometimes themselves, are victims of crimes. They are being targeted by these gangs, and sometimes there is a reluctance to report it because they think it could get them deported or that could get them in trouble with the police,” Kenny said.
Police say they are also seeing Venezuelan gang members recruiting other migrants from other countries. They say it is important to know that only a small part of the migrant community commits the majority of crimes.
Jennifer Bisram
