A Venezuelan migrant has been arrested three times since he arrived in Chicago just three weeks ago, authorities have revealed.
However, each time he was arrested, the migrant gave a different name.
Police said he was identified as Anduesa Cormena, Daniel Jose Garcia, and Danny Garcia Briceno.
With authorities referring to the criminal migrant as Anduesa Cormena, he appeared again in felony court on a retail theft charge.
34-year-old Cormena was arrested Monday at Macy’s, 111 North State.
Cormena and another illegal migrant, Yeiber Colmenarez, 22, were caught trying to steal hundreds of dollars worth of clothing, Assistant State’s Attorney Joseph Sorrentino told Judge Maryam Ahmad during the court session.
During Tuesday’s hearing, prosecutors warned that authorities may not know who some of the migrants are.
On Tuesday, Judge Ahmad said: “Here’s where I’m going with this, just so we’re clear.
“These are individuals who’ve not been in the country very long.
“You’re now telling me that they were arrested at Macy’s, committing a felony retail theft.
“So the court wants some idea of who is in front of me.
“Additionally, as the public defender just indicated, one person has already indicated he’s using another name.
“So, who are these people? Who are these individuals?”
A Venezuelan migrant has been arrested 3 times since arriving in Chicago three weeks ago, prosecutors said Tuesday as he was accused of shoplifting clothes worth $725 from Macy’s
But his bond court judge had another concern: “Who are these individuals?”https://t.co/1RfatEasf1
— CWBChicago (@CWBChicago) May 10, 2023
This news comes as Mayor Lori Lightfoot has just declared a state of emergency due to the influx of migrants, as Slay News reported.
On Tuesday, Lightfoot said:
“Sadly, we don’t expect the buses to stop arriving anytime soon, and importantly, we’ve seen, in the last couple of weeks, a new surge of migrants coming to Chicago on a daily basis.
“It’s worse now and it’s going to get worse before it gets better.
“We will always do right by our immigrant and refugee communities, but we’ve reached a breaking point.”
Sgt. James Calvino, president of the Chicago Police Sergeants’ Association, published an open letter about migrant families living in the lobbies of multiple city police stations.
He wrote:
Good afternoon,
I would like to draw your attention to the critical issue of people being housed in Chicago Police District stations. The situation has increased exponentially; families are remaining in stations for days and, sometimes weeks at a time.
Police District stations are not equipped to handle a situation like this. If a Police Officer was to walk into a home with the same conditions that exist in the stations, they would be forced to call DCFS and remove any/all children, due to the poor conditions.
There is no ability to store or prepare meals, bath or cleanse, or a proper place to sleep. Having to cleanse in a bathroom sink, having no ability to keep food refrigerated, and sleeping on hard cement-like floors, are inhumane living conditions. We pride ourselves on being both a welcoming City and a welcoming State.
How welcoming are the conditions I described?
The City calls the people migrants, asylum seekers, or unhoused, but no matter what title they are given, they are all human beings who deserve, at the very least, humane conditions to live in. Where do the children get to be children in a station? There is no place to play, run around, and just be a kid.
I do know there is currently a very large influx of people but it needs news coverage to bring the issue to the forefront.
Without humanizing the issue, the City will be allowed to continue storing and treating people like they are a mere commodity.
We need to change this; let’s force the City and State to truly be welcoming.
In many of the Police Department’s General Orders, there is the statement “sanctity of human life” to show how above all else we are to hold sacred each person’s life. By housing persons in Police Districts, we are doing anything but showing the sanctity of human life. We are taking police resources that need to be used to address the violence in this City and are using them for something that needs to be addressed by other better-suited agencies.
Police Districts are where we bring and process arrestees, and often times those persons are bonded out from the stations. Not something children should be a part of.
I ask you to please continue to demand answers from the City and State officials who are allowing and condoning this treatment of our fellow human beings and for the practice of housing persons in Police District stations.
READ MORE: Lori Lightfoot Declares ‘Emergency’ over ‘Migrant Inflow’ to ‘Sanctuary City’ Chicago
