Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers nabbed 54 members and associates of the Trinitarios Dominican gang who were operating across New York, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced during a press conference Thursday.
“During our investigation, we learned that these scumbags were affiliated with the transnational criminal organization, the notorious Trinitarios gang in New York. We began to target every single last person that is affiliated with them and recognized that they needed to be brought to justice,” Noem said.
“These arrests and these removals represent a significant blow to the criminal network that has been terrorizing communities right here in New York City and throughout the United States,” she added.
Among the gangbangers were individuals accused of weapons trafficking, human smuggling, narcotics distribution, and armed robberies, Noem said.
More than 60% of them have already been deported.
Authorities discovered that the illegal migrant men responsible for shooting an off-duty Customs and Border Protection officer in New York City in July were part of a notorious criminal gang, and immediately took to the streets to disrupt the criminal organization’s activities in what’s been dubbed “Operation Salvo.”
The two gang members allegedly responsible for shooting the CBP officer were released into the United States by the Biden administration before going on to commit multiple crimes, Noem said. Despite being shot in the wrist and the face while enjoying a quiet evening with a friend, the officer, who wishes to remain anonymous, fired back at the alleged assailants and miraculously survived.
The alleged shooter, Dominican Republic national Miguel Francisco Mora Nunez, 21, was arrested several times in New York City and in other parts of the country before the attack, according to the New York Post.
In August 2024, he was arrested twice for allegedly assaulting a pregnant woman and threatening to kill another migrant with a machete, according to the outlet. He was also wanted for kidnapping and weapons charges stemming from a pawn shop robbery in Massachusetts.
Meanwhile, Christhian Aybar-Berroa, 22, who was the shooter’s alleged accomplice, was arrested eight times by the NYPD and released each time after he had already received a deportation order.
Authorities said he was also a suspect in four more cases, the Post reported.
During Thursday’s presser, New York Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director Ken Genalo blamed New York’s bail and sanctuary laws for the shooting.
“They provide safe haven for criminal illegal aliens,” Genalo said. “The lack of cooperation is unprecedented across the law enforcement spectrum, and rather than the city’s stated purpose to protect the immigrants of New York and the citizens of New York City, these misguided policies allow criminals to roam freely in our city, in our country, subjecting New Yorkers and all Americans to unnecessary harm.”
Noem also spoke to that issue.
“Those individuals would have never been in this country if they hadn’t been allowed in by the Biden administration when they ignored their federal laws and allowed them to come in illegally,” she said.
Noem said the operation is “just the beginning.”
“We are on offense, the Trump administration is using every single tool that we have to protect the American people,” she said.
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