New York City Deputy Mayor Kaz Daughtry told Newsmax on Friday that crime rates were already down before the city's bust of nearly 30 Tren de Aragua members earlier this week.
Daughtry, tapped by Mayor Eric Adams to the deputy in charge of public safety in February, joined "American Agenda" two days after federal charges dropped on 27 TDA members for alleged transnational crimes in Peru and the U.S.
"Well, you gotta remember the crime numbers were going down even when TDA was here. We went five straight quarters of crime going down, and the mayor ran his campaign on bringing down and reducing crime," Daughtry said. "And the mere fact that this crew, that this TDA crew, and we're going after the MS-13 — there's other ones in the pipe that I'm not going to break any news here that are coming up next — but I think that the crews in the gangs, especially TDA, are afraid now because they know that we're aggressively going after them and we're not shy about it. We're talking about it. We're aggressively going at it.
"They're hiding and we're going to find them and we're going to arrest them. They're going to do their time here and they're going to leave," he added.
Regarding the presence of other gangs in the city, Daughtry said he's not sure where they're coming from, only that they have the attention of NYC law enforcement.
"Obviously, you know, when the president was elected, the mayor has said it before, we have to have better border security. And you know, what we see in border crossings down what, over 90-something percent now," Daughtry said. "So how are they getting here? I'm not really sure. Is there a hole in the fence somewhere? I'm not sure.
"But they're getting to New York; that's what we do know. And once they come here, they're not going to victimize New Yorkers. We are going to find them, eradicate them and bring them to justice," he added.
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Mark Swanson ✉
Mark Swanson, a Newsmax writer and editor, has nearly three decades of experience covering news, culture and politics.
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