The crime rates in New York City aren't currently quite as bad as some people had projected. That's the good news. The NYPD has been out on the streets hustling and there are some arrests being made. The one complicating factor that nobody in the municipal government seems to want to talk about is the fact that a vastly overrepresented amount of the criminals showing up in Manhattan's courts each week are illegal migrants. While vast numbers of them have been arriving in Gotham, they still make up considerably less than 10% of the city's total population. Yet according to sources inside the NYPD, they account for nearly 75% of those being arrested for assault, robbery, and domestic violence. But New York's sanctuary city status makes it nearly impossible for accurate totals to be reported. The New York Post introduces us to one such migrant named Jefferson Maldenado of Ecuador who only arrived in New York this summer and he's already been arrested five times.

Jefferson Maldenado, a 31-year-old migrant from Ecuador, has been arrested in New York City five times since arriving in the US earlier this year.

His latest bust was for stealing a pair of pants and a beer from the Target near Herald Square.

Asked why he committed the crime, the migrant thief said, “I wanted to change my clothes and think.

“I wanted to sit down and think about my life, about what to do. Because this is not a normal world.”

Believe us, Jefferson. We couldn't agree more. This is not currently a normal world, and people like you are one of the primary reasons for that. In fact, many of us can barely recognize our world in its current state. I see that you've been arrested at least five times in as many months after entering our country illegally. In more "normal" times, we would have long since packed your butt onto a plane and sent you packing back to Ecuador. And yet, here we are.

This problem is far from being exclusive to Manhattan. Another NYPD source in Queens said that illegal migrants account for at least 60% of arrests and charges in that borough as well. But we are still relying on ballpark estimates from workers in the courts. The reason for this has been highlighted by many people already, including the Mayor. The police are not allowed to ask about a suspect's citizenship or migration status. (Apparently, that would be racist.) 

The police are also unable to cooperate with ICE to determine if a migrant who has been arrested has a detainer against them so that they can be held by ICE and deported after their trial. The problems caused by these restrictions are both obvious and daunting. How are officials supposed to deal with the issue when they can't even place a reasonable estimate of the number of offenders that need to be addressed? 

One veteran ex-prosecutor at the Queens District Attorney’s office described the sanctuary city law as being "pathetic, disgusting, crazy." Interviews with migrants at local shelters reveal that these illegals are well aware of the lax bail laws in New York. They know that they can steal or vandalize with abandon as long as they don't murder or seriously injure anyone and they will be put back out on the streets in short order. This brings us back to the example set by Jefferson Maldenado in the excerpt above. He wanted a change of clothing and a cold beer. It's probably hard to blame him on a hot summer day. But he didn't go to any of the migrant services centers that are widely available across New York. He simply went out and stole what he wanted, knowing full well that he would be back to his shelter in no time at all.

Not all of the crimes are minor in nature. The vicious Venezuelan prison gang Tren de Aragua has set up shop in New York, just as they have in many other cities. They are suspected of several recent crimes, including the recent shootings of two cops who were trying to arrest one of the gang's members. And yet, the NYPD is still not allowed to ask them about their residency status or check with ICE to see if they have detainers against them. It's completely crazy and both the cops and the workers in the courts are frustrated beyond description.