They took part in a riot at the border — and then were welcomed into the US.
Dozens of migrants who were accused of violently storming the border at El Paso, Texas on March 21 have been released into the country, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesperson confirmed to The Post.
It’s the latest shocking gut-punch to accountability after 211 migrants were caught on video by The Post rushing toward the US border and attacking Texas National Guardsmen who tried to turn them back to Mexico.
At least one migrant was seen stomping on a service member’s knee during the melee.
In May, an El Paso judge dismissed the criminal charges against all of the border-crossers on a technicality.
The migrants accused of taking part in the riot were then released from state custody and handed over to ICE, which set 43 of them free, a spokesperson said.
ICE determines who to release on a “case-by-case basis,” the spokesperson said.
“ERO [Enforcement and Removal Operations] officers make decisions on associated enforcement actions and apply prosecutorial discretion, where applicable, in a responsible manner, informed by their experience as law enforcement professionals and in a way that best protects the communities we serve.”
However, a Homeland Security source said the reality is much more arbitrary. ICE releases migrants into the US because they can’t deport them fast enough and because authorities need to make room at detention centers for the worst of the worst, according to the source.
“Sometimes we arrest a child molester and he gets released because of housing space. Or the charge is not egregious enough to keep him or her in custody,” the source said.
While ICE has released dozens of migrants who allegedly took part in the riot, the agency has kept 32 others in custody pending court hearings and 105 in detention pending removal from the US.
Another 43 of the alleged rioters have been successfully deported, the spokesperson said.
Texas authorities labeled nine migrants as ringleaders of the riot and intended to file felony rioting charges, two of whom were released by Border Patrol soon after.
Authorities were able to nab one of them, but the other, Venezuelan national Gabriel Enrique Angarita Carrasquero, 22, who allegedly used a “rope to pull the gate down which subsequently led to the migrant rush” remains at large.
In an effort to prevent any future violence at the border, Texas has armed its soldiers and state troopers with non-lethal pepperball guns.
Soldiers now have “thousands” of pepperballs and have been told not to hold back when trying to stop illegal incursions, a National Guard source previously told The Post.
The source said the new tool “has made a massive difference out here on the border,” adding that “soldiers are so much safer now.”
