Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw lambasted the federal government’s handling of illegal immigration just days after three Guatemalan men were arrested and charged with kidnapping and assaulting a woman in the county.
‘This morning, I’m just here to deliver a message. And the message is, don’t think for a minute that what happens at the Mexican border doesn’t affect us here,’ Bradshaw said during Wednesday morning’s press conference.
‘Here we have three illegals who never should’ve been in this country that have committed a very serious crime: kidnapping and sexual battery.’
The three men are accused of forcing a woman into a car at around 1 am Monday and sexually battering her at two locations west of Lake Worth Beach.
Andres Felipe Morales, 29; Darinel Ordonez Jjimenez, 30; and Marcos Felipe Ramirez, 31, were arrested and booked into the Palm Beach County jail around 7 pm the same day.
Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw slammed the federal government’s handling of illegal immigration during a press conference Wednesday
The conference came just days after three illegal immigrants from Guatemala were arrested and charged in connection to the kidnapping and sexual assault of a Palm Beach County woman
Andres Felipe Morales, 29, faces counts of sexual assault and false imprisonment
Their bond was set at $200,000 each. Morales faces counts of sexual assault and false imprisonment while the others were charged with felony criminal conspiracy.
‘They shouldn’t be here! This is the same thing that we saw where the student was killed by the person that was here illegally,’ Bradshaw said, referring to the murder of Laken Riley.
The 22-year-old University of Georgia student was killed by Jose Ibarra, a Venezuelan man who entered the country illegally, while out jogging on February 22.
‘Folks, our border is the ocean. There’s no fence there. We are the fence,’ Bradshaw continued.
‘For them to be in this country to be able to commit these type of crimes is unconscionable. The federal government has put the American people in jeopardy.’
The sheriff said federal intelligence agencies had confirmed ‘the most dangerous gangs in the world,’ hailing from Venezuela, had relocated to Miami.
‘They make MS-13 look like schoolkids,’ Bradshaw added.
He then appeared to take a shot at the Biden administration’s handling of border security by echoing a false claim popularized by U.S. Senate candidate Mark Lamb.
The abduction occurred near John Prince Park (pictured), west of Lake Worth Beach, officials said
In his remarks, Bradshaw referenced the murder of 22-year-old university student Laken Riley, who was killed while out jogging last month by an illegal immigrant from Venezuela
The sheriff said Venezuelan gangs who ‘make MS-13 look like school kids’ had relocated to Miami (pictured: migrants surrender to American authorities in El Paso, Texas)
‘Forget about the 3 million people that came across the border, put their hands up to Border Patrol and says I give up, you know, they get the cell phone and the gift card and all that kind of garbage,’ Bradshaw said.
While some migrants are provided phones by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, they can only be used to access a monitoring app called SmartLink.
Claims that migrants are provided gift cards and other incentives like plane tickets have been debunked.
‘What about the 1.5 million people that they call “got aways?”‘ Bradshaw continued. ‘Those are the people that don’t want to get caught by Border Patrol because they’re gang members, they’re wanted. They’re packing fentanyl.’
The term ‘got aways’ refers to unlawful border crossers who are not apprehended and not turned back to their country of origin.
Bradshaw claimed to have viewed surveillance video of a pack of men dressed in military fatigues, ‘wearing carpet on their shoes so they wouldn’t leave footprints,’ creeping across the border.
‘What do you think they’re here for? They’re not here to play the lotto. They’re going to do bad things,’ he said.
‘These idiots in Washington DC need to close this border. In order to get this cleaned up they’ve got to stop what’s coming across this border, and it can be done.’
Supreme Court of Justice Magistrate Edgar Gavidia (left) told Venezuelan media that 100 prisoners had been freed since Friday as part of a prison reform initiative
Yare Prison, known for its harsh conditions and outbreaks of gang violence, is among the facilities letting inmates go
Gavidia said the court was looking ‘case-by-case’ at inmates to ‘(give) justice to those who at one time made a mistake in their lives’ (pictured: prisoners at El Rodeo in July 2016)
Supreme Court of Justice Magistrate Edgar Gavidia confirmed that 100 prisoners have already been released from detention centers in Venezuela.
‘Since Friday, we have been carrying out in the state of Miranda, an operation looking into preventative centers and prisons,’ Gavidia told local media.
‘We’re looking case-by-case at anyone, giving justice to those who at one time made a mistake in their lives to expedite justice.’
Among the prisons letting people go is Yare, notorious for gang violence and overcrowding.
Sister facility Yare II and a third prison called El Rodeo are among those included in the reform initiative.
Speaking to DailyMail.com Monday, Miami immigration attorney Rolando Vazquez characterized the released inmates as ‘killers.’
‘They’re thugs. These are prisons where there’s thugs, killers,’ he said. ‘Americans need to know they’re coming to the border.’
