Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) is asking the Biden administration to respond to an incident in which illegal immigrants attacked New York City police officers in Times Square, sparking a public outcry last week.
In a letter dated Feb. 2, to Attorney General Merrick Garland and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, the ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee raised concerns over the incident.
“I was saddened but not surprised to hear about the latest consequences of President Biden’s illegal immigration crisis; a violent beat-down near Times Square in New York of several NYPD officers by a dozen migrants,” Mr. Graham wrote.
On Jan. 27, a group of individuals assaulted two NYPD officers near Times Square. The attack, caught on video, shows a group of men kicking and punching two officers. The officers suffered minor injuries, including bruises and facial cuts, and were treated at the scene.
Authorities arrested seven suspects and charged them with related offenses. However, five of them were released without bail. While many have arrest histories for offenses ranging from robbery to petty larceny, only one of the suspects was ordered to be held on bail.
In the letter, Mr. Graham asked the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security whether the suspects responsible for the attack would be deported.
“Will the aliens who perpetrated this attack be deported? If so, when? If not, why not?” he asked.
One of the suspects, who was arraigned and released without bail on Jan. 29, gave the middle finger to cameras upon leaving the courthouse.
Calls for Deportation
The incident sparked outrage and calls for deportation, as well as demands to get tougher on crime.“If someone commits a crime against a police officer in the state of New York and they’re not here legally, it’s definitely worth checking into,” she said.
“Get them all and send them back,” she added. “You don’t touch our police officers.”
New York City Mayor Eric Adams, also a Democrat, shared the same view during a news broadcast.
“Those migrants who are here because they want to be part of the American dream, we say yes to that,” he told PIX11. “But those that are breaking our laws, we need to reexamine the laws that don’t allow us to deport them because they’re doing violent acts.
“We cannot create an atmosphere where you’re going to bring violence into our city,” Mr. Adams added.
Mr. Chell noted that more than 2,000 police officers have been assaulted or faced attempted assaults in the last year. In his view, criminals feel emboldened to attack police because there are “no consequences.”
The Police Benevolent Association (PBA), the largest police union representing department members, also addressed the attack, denouncing the state’s justice system as it expressed outrage over the incident.
“Attacks on police officers are becoming an epidemic, and the reason is a revolving door we’re seeing in cases like this one,” PBA President Patrick Hendry said. “It is impossible for police officers to deal effectively with crime and disorder if the justice system can’t or won’t protect us while we do that work.”
Billionaire Elon Musk, who owns the social media platform X, also mentioned the incident, stating that the Biden administration is intentionally allowing millions of illegal immigrants into the country to secure a permanent Democratic majority and rule the country as a “one-party state.”
“As happened this week, you can literally assault police officers in broad daylight in New York, be released with no bail, give everyone the finger, and still not be deported,” he wrote on X.
In another X post on Jan. 4, Mr. Musk wrote, “You basically have to be a convicted axe murderer to be deported!”
“That’s because every deportation is a lost vote.”
