This story was produced in collaboration with Documented.
The detention and deportation of 19-year-old Merwil Gutiérrez Flores to a megaprison in El Salvador earlier this 12 months set off an enormous firestorm when it was first reported by Documented as a result of the Venezuelan had no prison report and a pending asylum utility.
However a beforehand unreported interplay that passed off previous to that chain of occasions is elevating additional questions: He was arrested by the NYPD on Feb. 24 and detained in a Bronx precinct lock-up on gun prices, based on federal officers, however was by no means prosecuted.
A day later, the FBI took custody of Gutiérrez Flores and handed him over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Metropolis and federal authorities businesses are saying little about how Gutiérrez Flores went from being detained on the 52nd Precinct on a gun cost to being despatched to one of many world’s most infamous prisons with out being prosecuted, not to mention convicted.
However the episode highlights an important query about how the NYPD’s routine cooperation with federal regulation enforcement on prison issues may assist President Donald Trump’s mass deportation agenda, which has marginalized due course of on the similar time that it has shipped tons of of deportees to a international jail infamous for its brutal situations and with no timetable for launch.
Metropolis regulation forbids the NYPD from coordinating with ICE besides on prison circumstances. That’s supposed to make sure undocumented immigrants in New York Metropolis can report crimes, go to hospitals and go to courtroom with out concern of being detained or deported.
However the NYPD participates in plenty of process forces the place its members work alongside brokers from federal businesses to analyze something from cash laundering to gun and human trafficking.
The U.S. Division of Homeland Safety revealed earlier this week that Gutiérrez Flores was charged by the NYPD on Feb. 24 with 4 counts, together with possession of a loaded gun.
A doc posted on-line by DHS says it was the NYPD that arrested him, however a press launch from the company mentioned the arrest was dealt with collectively by the NYPD and FBI.
A doc launched by Homeland Safety reveals the NYPD was concerned within the arrest of Merwil Gutiérrez in February. Credit score: Illustration by THE CITY through Division of Homeland Safety Data
An NYPD spokesperson mentioned data from the incident are sealed, as did a spokesperson for the Bronx District Legal professional, and each places of work declined to reply particular questions citing that standing.
“The NYPD does not engage in civil immigration enforcement, period. As it has for many years, the NYPD works with local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies on criminal enforcement matters, including work on federal criminal task forces. That work is critical to getting dangerous individuals out of our communities and keeping our families safe.”
A spokesperson for the FBI’s New York workplace declined to touch upon the company’s function within the arrest, however spoke usually on the company’s work with ICE.
“FBI agents routinely engage with ICE as authorized by our lawful ability to investigate and enforce violations of federal immigration law,” the spokesperson mentioned. “FBI New York does not involve the NYPD in our engagement with ICE on these matters.”
A former NYPD officer assigned to a federal process power mentioned sharing custody between the federal company and the NYPD throughout a joint arrest is pretty customary, as was the collection of occasions that appear to have occurred on this case.
“The benefit of the task force is to allow versatility in investigations and enforcement,” the supply mentioned. “If prosecution is not advanced, all other enforcement options are available.”
However Albert Fox Cahn, the founder and director of the Surveillance Know-how Oversight Mission, mentioned that with the Trump administration shifting federal brokers towards civil immigration enforcement, the open sharing of data between the NYPD and the feds poses new dangers.
The taskforces, he mentioned, have “always been a loophole large enough to deport someone through, but increasingly we see the ways these can be abused.”
‘Looking for Someone Else’?
Gutiérrez Flores, who lived along with his father, Wilmer Gutiérrez, in an residence on College Avenue, was simply getting residence with a buddy, Angel Blanco-Marin after they have been approached by regulation enforcement, based on a witness who requested anonymity out of concern of reprisals.
One of many officers requested Gutierrez-Flores if he was Blanco-Marin, based on the witness. He mentioned no and pointed to his buddy, however was arrested anyway, the witness mentioned.
Blanco-Marin, 22, was additionally arrested and later transferred to the Terrorism Confinement Middle, Documented beforehand reported. (Witnesses who beforehand described the incident believed the arresting officers have been from ICE.)
Public data present Blanco-Marin was going through prices in Brooklyn Felony Court docket, together with a felony cost, from a November incident of reckless driving in an allegedly stolen car that precipitated a collision.
He missed his final two courtroom appearances, based on a spokesperson for the Brooklyn District Legal professional’s Workplace. Blanco-Marin’s lawyer in that case didn’t reply to a voice message looking for remark.
DHS officers mentioned that along with the gun possession depend, the NYPD charged Gutiérrez Flores with possession of a gun on college grounds, possession of stolen property and an ammunition cost.
The arrest occurred throughout the road from a church that comprises a pre-kindergarten program, which was closed at the moment of night time.
DHS officers didn’t reply when requested what Blanco-Marin was charged with and which regulation enforcement entity detained him.
Wilmer Gutiérrez instructed Documented that he went to the NYPD’s 52nd Precinct to ask if his son was being held there the morning after his arrest, on Feb. 25, and was instructed by the officers on the precinct that he was.
“They confirmed that he was indeed there and that they were going to take him to court around 3 p.m.,” he mentioned in Spanish. “Of course, I didn’t see him because they didn’t let me, but they told me he was there.”
Wilmer Gutiérrez mentioned the officers wouldn’t say why his son had been arrested.
A grainy video of the arrest, which lasts simply 4 seconds, seems to point out that not less than two uniformed NYPD officers and a sergeant have been concerned. Two different regulation enforcement officers seen within the brief clip are sporting road garments and what look like face coverings.
A buddy of Blanco-Marin’s beforehand instructed Documented that the aspiring musician instructed him by cellphone, after being detained, that officers drove him up Fordham Highway to the native precinct home. That route seems to be towards the 52nd Precinct.
What stays unclear is when and why Gutiérrez Flores and Blanco-Marin have been transferred from the NYPD precinct into FBI custody.
However within the hours after the arrests, the FBI “initiated an investigation in regards to Gutiérrez Flores for ongoing criminal activity,” based on the DHS paperwork.
It goes on to say that round 11:00 p.m. on Feb. 25, about 24 hours after Gutiérrez Flores’ arrest by the NYPD, the FBI’s New York workplace turned him over to ICE, which arrested him “pursuant to a Warrant for Arrest of Alien.”
The DHS press launch calls Gutiérrez Flores a “Tren de Aragua (TdA) associate,” referring to the Venezuelan jail gang that the Trump administration has deemed a terrorist entity. The press launch says Gutiérrez Flores was eliminated to CECOT on March 15.
The press launch and doc present no proof of his affiliation with the gang, which has been the principle declare utilized by the Trump administration in opposition to lots of these shipped to the Central American jail.
However the administration has supplied little proof of gang affiliation of these despatched to CECOT past tattoos, which consultants on the gang have repeatedly mentioned aren’t a dependable approach to determine members.
Gutiérrez Flores has no prison report in New York, the place he has lived since 2023, and no tattoos. His household and lawyer proceed to dispute he has any affiliation with the Venezuelan gang.
“Nothing they’re saying is true,” his father mentioned in Spanish. “They were looking for someone else.”
William Parra, an immigration lawyer from Inmigración Al Día — the regulation agency representing Gutiérrez Flores’s case — mentioned he’s nonetheless looking for out what occurred.
“The facts are still not clear, but we are doing an active investigation on this,” he mentioned. “But the fact remains that there is little to no evidence of Merwil being part of Tren de Aragua.”
The courtroom didn’t present Parra with the DHS doc when initially reviewing the case. For that cause, he emphasizes, “Merwil was detained for hanging out with friends and was at the wrong place at the wrong time.”
Carla Colome contributed extra reporting.
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