An illegal immigrant bit a veteran ICE officer’s fingertip off during detainment procedures earlier this month.
Cristopher Santos Felix, a Dominican National who entered the country on a visitor’s visa in 2015 and never left when it expired, is now being charged with assault for biting off the officer’s fingertip on March 3, the New York Post reported.
ICE officials were at Felix’s residence in the Bronx to arrest him for overstaying the visa. The officers had handcuffed Felix, but removed the cuffs to allow him to put on clothes. Felix then fled to a bathroom and became violent when officers attempted to restrain him again.
During a struggle with ICE officers, Felix bit off an officer’s fingertip and is now facing federal charges.
The officer was taken to a nearby hospital for treatment.
Felix had other encounters with police in the past, including previous charges of DUI and a prior assault charge from 2018. ICE requested that the NYPD take him into custody for the state assault charge, but he was released.
Illegal immigrant charged with biting off ICE officer’s fingertip https://t.co/SW5DyoaSM8 pic.twitter.com/hC4Gpaadrd
— New York Post (@nypost) March 15, 2019
An ICE spokesperson said, “Communities are safer when law enforcement works together, yet sanctuary city policies continue to hinder the coordination needed to keep dangerous criminals off our streets. The officer’s injury was the direct, foreseeable and entirely avoidable result of New York’s criminal alien sanctuary policies. Proponents of sanctuary policies claim they make communities safer, but in many cases, they are causing more harm than good.”
In fact, in 2018, Homeland Security reported that ICE officials and U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agents are being attacked more than ever.
The CBP released data in Sept. 2018 showing 856 assaults on agents in 2017 — the highest number since 2010. For every 10,000 detentions, 28 assaults took place.
ICE agents are commonly attacked with weapons such as rocks, bombs, clubs, knives, guns, and laser pointers.
Exactly half of the assaults on CBP agents during 2010-2017 were committed with rocks or other projectiles, according to the CBP data. Approximately 30 percent of assaults were unarmed. While the majority of assaults did not require treatment, approximately 18 percent of CBP assault victims did require some degree of medical treatment.
With the growing border crisis and more illegal immigrant apprehensions, the numbers for assaulted border agents are likely to rise.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said the U.S. is on track to apprehend around one million illegal immigrants by the end of the year. The numbers have been increasing each month.
