Feds detain illegal who was released 10 times by sanctuary New York City

by WorldTribune Staff, September 27, 2020

An illegal immigrant who had been arrested 10 times but released each time due to New York sanctuary city policies has been detained by federal authorities.

Jhonny Soto-Ubaldo

The rap sheet of Jhonny Soto-Ubaldo includes assault, harassment, and grand larceny among other charges. He was arrested on federal gun charges this month, meaning a new detainer placed on Soto-Ubaldo by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) will likely be honored since he is now in the federal prison system.

New York police departments had the 19-year-old illegal immigrant, a Dominican Republic citizen, in their custody at least 10 times dating to June 2018, when he was first arrested in Queens, according to ICE. But sanctuary city New York released him despite an ICE request that he be turned over.

ICE said Soto-Ubaldo entered the U.S. on a six-month visitor’s visa in 2016 but never returned to the Dominican Republic.

Soto-Ubaldo was arrested again in August 2018 but was released without ICE being notified. In 2019, he was arrested six times, with ICE requesting notice each time of his release and New York authorities defying the requests.

The illegal immigrant was arrested two more times this year on charges of possession of stolen property and assault.

The FBI detained Soto-Ubaldo this month after local police were again tracking him, saying they found his fingerprints on the door of a stolen Jeep Grand Cherokee.

When detectives closed in, Soto-Ubaldo ran, tossing a bag into a construction site as he fled, according to court documents. Police caught him, then recovered the bag and found a .380 caliber Bersa Thunder pistol with the serial number scratched off.

That earned him the federal charge of possessing a firearm with an altered serial number.

Soto-Ubaldo briefly escaped from FBI custody, according to local news reports.

He was being taken to a federal detention center when he managed to get out of a moving car. A woman told WABC-TV that her mother-in-law spotted him in her backyard and chased him off with a meat cleaver.

He was later found hiding under bed sheets in a man’s apartment, local news reported.


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