Exclusive | ICE arrests gold-hunting mole man who emerged from NYC sewer after lefty judge released him
US Immigration and Customs Enforcement has busted one of the gold-hunting mole men who emerged from a manhole near the United Nations, The Post has learned.Samuel Reveron Ascanio, 25, an illegal immigrant from Venezuela, was taken into custody after the city set him free — despite a prior federal warrant for his arrest.“New York City had a clear opportunity to transfer this individual to ICE in a secure, controlled environment,” ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations New York City Field Office Director Kenneth Genalo told The Post. “Instead, the city recklessly released him despite his repeated arrests and unresolved criminal charges — a choice that needlessly returned an alleged public-safety threat to the streets..
..
ICE will not allow noncooperation to deter us from enforcing federal immigration law and protecting our communities.”New York is a sanctuary city and its laws limit police cooperation with federal immigration agents.“The NYPD does not participate in civil immigration enforcement, in accordance with New York City laws,” a spokesperson said in an email.The NYPD arrested Reveron Ascanio on Sept.24 and charged him with criminal trespassing after someone called 911 to report seeing three men climbing out of a sewer manhole a day earlier at Park Avenue and East 61st Street around 4:30 a.m.The threesome then fled the area in two separate Toyota Corolla sedans, after using the vehicles to block the manholes, cops said.The sighting sparked security fears because Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was expected to stay at a hotel down the block from the manhole during the UN General Assembly.Kevin Rodriguez, 26, was also charged with criminal trespassing in connection with the incident, and police were still seeking a third man, police said.Both Reveron Ascanio and Rodriguez, a legal US resident residing in Queens, told NYPD detectives “that they entered the manhole together to look for valuables that get washed away in the storm d...