A Democratic judge in New York City is reportedly under scrutiny for allowing a migrant with a history of arrests, including an attempted rape charge, to evade Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) by exiting through a courthouse back door.
The individual in question, 45-year-old Gerardo Miguel Mora, whose nationality remains undisclosed, was being pursued by federal agents due to an outstanding criminal warrant, as revealed by court documents accessed by the New York Post.
On Thursday, Mora was apprehended for shoplifting and possessing stolen goods after allegedly taking $130 in items from an H&M store in Midtown Manhattan.
Later that day, Mora faced charges in Manhattan’s criminal court, with Judge Sheridan Jack-Browne, who secured her position through a special election in Brooklyn last year, overseeing the case.
Instead of transferring Mora to ICE custody, sources claim that Judge Jack-Browne permitted him to leave through a discreet exit, possibly allowing him to sidestep the ICE agents stationed outside, as reported by the Post.
A law enforcement source reportedly told the publication, “They refused to hand him over. They let him out the back to avoid ICE.”
Agents chased Mora through the streets before apprehending him and placing him in federal custody, where the Department of Justice (DOJ) now has control over the next steps.
Mora has been on law enforcement’s radar since 2011, when he was arrested for allegedly attempting to rape and strangle a 21-year-old woman, according to the outlet.
Judge Sheridan Jack‑Browne (pictured) allegedly allowed illegal migrant Gerardo Miguel Mora – whose past arrests include attempted rape – to slip out a back door of a New York City courthouse to evade ICE agents on Thursday, according to the New York Post.Â
According to police sources, he allegedly followed the young woman home in midtown Manhattan, choked her, and attempted to strip her clothes off.
The attack ended after a bystander, who heard the woman’s terrified cries, swiftly intervened and held Mora down until authorities arrived to arrest him, law enforcement sources told the Post.Â
He then seemingly disappeared from law enforcement’s radar for the next 12 years and was believed to have been deported after the violent incident.
After more than a decade, Mora was found back in the US following his arrest for the use of a falsified identification, according to the outlet.
Last month, he was once again taken into custody on the Upper West Side for alleged possession of crack cocaine – a case that remains pending in court, according to a criminal complaint obtained by the Post.Â
Federal authorities had been searching for Mora due to a criminal arrest warrant under a section of US code concerning the ‘reentry of removed aliens,’ sources said.Â
The warrant was issued under a law that criminalizes reentering the country after being deported – a felony charge.
On Thursday, Mora was in court for his shoplifting case – a charge that doesn’t allow bail – when the alleged escape took place.Â
Mora was allegedly allowed to exit out of the back door of the court. He has since been taken into federal custody (pictured: stock of Manhattan courthouse)
Sources told the Post that Judge Jack-Browne then allowed Mora to leave the courtroom in a way that could have let him go undetected by agents, despite being aware of the federal arrest warrant for him.
The source said that ‘everything was sent over’ to the courtroom by ICE, and the warrant – allegedly in the judge’s possession – was placed in a folder on the bench for her to review.Â
Once agents realized Mora had left the courtroom, they pursued him on foot and eventually caught up with him, placing him into federal custody, the sources said.
Now the DOJ holds the reins over whether Mora will be prosecuted, deported, or both.Â
The ordeal enraged federal agents, and because New York is a sanctuary city, local authorities do not cooperate with federal immigration enforcement.Â
In some recent cases, federal authorities have pursued judges they believe obstructed the agency’s operations, though this is said to be a rare occurrence.
