The growth of immigrant gang violence in the nation's cities is often the result of states that have "self-inflicted" the issue because of their lax immigration and criminal policies, former Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke said on Newsmax Sunday.
"Just like the catch and release of the Harris and Biden administration at the border, the catch and release is happening in New York with no bail," Clarke told Newsmax's "Wake Up America Weekend." "Also, New York raised the age at which a juvenile could be waived into adult court. It used to be 16. Now it's 18."
The Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang has been terrorizing New York City by recruiting junior gang members, called the "Little Devils of 42nd Street" to commit robberies and acts of violence, reported ABC7.
Some of the members are as young as 11 years old, and come from asylum seekers who are being housed at the Roosevelt Hotel, a police spokesman said.
Clarke told Newsmax that at first, the immigrant gangs mostly focused on the others in the migrant centers, but "now they're branching out" and committing crimes with weapons.
"For law enforcement, they don't have any place to start from," said Clarke. "There's no criminal history on these individuals and it's very hard to identify them."
And since the age has been raised for charging youths as adults in New York, "they recruit young people because they know the criminal justice system isn't going to do much to them," Clarke said.
He noted that in his home state of Wisconsin, the age a youth can be charged with an adult crime is 14.
"The other thing that hurts New York, too, is that many of these police agencies, law enforcement agencies will not cooperate with ICE," said Clarke. "ICE has some records on these individuals but they have to start to work together to develop a record so that they can go into court and show a judge that [they] need to detain this person because of this ongoing criminal behavior."
Until the law is changed back in New York, "this criminal justice reform nonsense," more such criminal activity will take place, he added.
Clarke further warned that unless something is done, gang wars will begin.
"The Gangster Disciples, the Latin Kings, MS-13 are not going to allow TDA to come in and take over their turf," he said. "Then the gang wars will begin and those are very bloody."
About NEWSMAX TV:
NEWSMAX is the fastest-growing cable news channel in America!
- Find Newsmax channel in your home via cable and satellite systems – More Info Here
- Watch Newsmax+ on your home TV app or smartphone and watch it anywhere! Try it for FREE – See More Here: NewsmaxPlus.com
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.