On Monday, officials stated four of the migrants who were bused into New York City from Texas were arrested for shoplifting thousands of dollars in merchandise from a Nassau County Macys.
The men, Wrallan Cabezas Meza, 19, Miguel Angel Rojas, 21, Rafael Rojas, 27, and Jose Garcia Escobar, 30, stand accused of driving from New York City to Garden City and taking $12,489 in merchandise from the Roosevelt Field Macys on January 9. Police did not specify what was stolen from the store.
The men were apprehended in Hempstead following the January 9 incident when Meza failed to use a turn signal in a 2006 BMW with bogus plates. Through a translator, the suspects told a Nassau County detective that they arrived in New York via a bus from Texas.
The four suspects had a court appearance on January 10. Rafael Rojas and Escobar were released without bail; Meza and Rojas had bail set at $1,500 and $1,000 respectively. Both men were released after securing bonds. According to police, Miguel and Rafael Rojas have been living at the Watson Hotel on West 57th Street in Manhattan.
At a press conference on January 23, Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman said he is in agreement with New York City Mayor Eric Adams “that we have a crisis at the border and it has now migrated across the United States to the New York City metropolitan area.”
“But I want to make it clear: Here in Nassau County, our police department is going to be vigilant in making sure that anybody who commits a crime is tracked down, caught and arrested,” Blakeman said.
Mayor Adams has asked federal and state lawmakers to assist with the cost, already at millions of dollars, to help house the nearly 40,000 migrants who have arrived since the spring.
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