How NYC ‘Sanctuary’ Status Allows Bloodthirsty Migrant Gang Tren de Aragua to Thrive in Big Apple’s Shelters

The Big Apple’s migrant-friendly “sanctuary city” status has allowed the vicious Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua to flourish in local migrant shelters, hamstringing cops and keeping immigration agents in the dark, law enforcement sources tell The Post.

The gang has infiltrated the shelter system to build a criminal enterprise that peddles drugs, guns and women in the five boroughs — but the restrictive policy largely bars the NYPD from policing the facilities and prohibits the city from tipping off federal immigration agents about dangerous illegal immigrants, the sources said.

“It was an unintended consequence of this administration’s policies,” a source with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in New York told The Post. “However, the New York City Council and the mayor’s office [exacerbated] the issue with polices that ignore federal law.

“They claim they are protecting the communities from ICE, all the while releasing these dangerous criminals back into the communities they preyed upon.”

Cities and states that proclaim immigration sanctuary status — which include California, Colorado, Illinois, Massachusetts and New York — vow not to cooperate with federal immigration officials.

That means local authorities will not hold wanted illegal immigrants for ICE and they won’t tip off the feds if they have a migrant fugitive in their custody for a local crime.

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“If you’re a migrant member of TDA or any criminal group and you know the existing laws, or existing sentiment on prosecution, and you know you’re not getting kicked out of the country, for them it’s worth the risk,” the chief told The Post.

Cops are barred from patrolling the shelters housing asylum seekers, unless it’s due to a 911 call, a health emergency or if they have a warrant or a subpoena after a “cumbersome” process, sources said.

Even then, the department is hampered: A police raid at the Randall’s Island migrant shelter last month, which stemmed from reports that Tren de Aragua was stashing guns in cars at the site, fizzled after the gangbangers were tipped off and stashed the cache.

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Meanwhile, Tren de Aragua, whose members hid among the tens of thousands of migrants flowing into the US, have been recruiting new members from within the shelters.

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