Venezuelan migrant who'd rather go to Rikers than face ICE likely won't stay out of feds' hands for long

New York Post

a day ago

Joke's on him?
A Venezuelan migrant who made the unusual move of voluntarily asking for bail to avoid being arrested by ICE could be locked up on Rikers Island for weeks or longer — regardless of if he posts the $100.
Nolveiro Vera Ordonez, 30, likely will end up in US Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody no matter the outcome of his petty theft case in Manhattan court.
A judge's quick decision to hold Ordonez on a federal criminal warrant will ensure he'll be rounded up by ICE once his state case wraps up, confirmed Al Baker, spokesman for the state Office of Court Administration, on Thursday.
5 The Rikers Island jail complex is shown in the Bronx borough of New York, on Tuesday, May 7, 2024.
AP
One immigration lawyer who spoke to The Post laughed at Ordonez's brazen attempt to wait out ICE in jail, while noting Rikers is probably not the best place to cool his heels.
'I'll give them points for thinking out of the box,' quipped attorney Edward Cuccia, though he added, 'As an immigration strategy, it's maybe not the best.'
Ordonez's pathway to the questionable legal gambit began Monday, when he was allegedly spotted cutting a lock and stealing a bicycle in Harlem, court papers show.
5 Jail cells are seen in the Enhanced Supervision Housing Unit at the Rikers Island Correctional facility in New York March 12, 2015.
REUTERS
An NYPD cop arrested Ordonez, leading to his Manhattan Criminal Court arraignment Wednesday on charges of petit larceny, criminal possession of stolen property and criminal mischief.
The problem for the Venezuelan migrant is that he faced a criminal arrest warrant from a Texas federal court for allegedly illegally crossing the US-Mexico border in 2022, records show.
A cadre of ICE agents were ready to nab Ordonez after the arraignment, so his lawyer, Elizabeth Fischer of the Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem, made an unusual request: set his bail at $100, even though the offenses are usually bail-ineligible.
Fischer cited an obscure New York law in which defendants can request bail at any time.
5 Venezuelan migrants arrive after being deported from the United States, at Simon Bolivar International Airport, in Maiquetia, Venezuela April 23, 2025.
REUTERS
Judge Rachel Pauley, noting the request was 'highly unusual,' agreed to the set the bail — and effectively blocked the federal arrest.
But Pauley also remanded Ordonez on the federal warrant, ensuring he'll stay behind bars.
'It is an indefinite hold,' Pauley said.
The Big Apple's sanctuary city policies likely won't help Ordonez either.
5 Federal agents escort detainees to vehicles after exiting an Intensive Supervision Appearance Program office on June 04, 2025 in New York City.
Getty Images
Those mandates forbid city officials from helping the feds with civil immigration enforcement, such as someone overstaying their visa.
But city officials have repeated stressed they actively cooperate with the feds on criminal immigration charges — which Ordonez faces.
'The judge did her job and followed the law,' Baker said in a statement.
'It's our understanding that the federal criminal warrant, signed by a US magistrate judge from western Texas, would be honored by a local correctional facility,' he said. 'And the defendant subject to it, if he posted bail in the state case, would be released to federal custody to be arraigned on the federal warrant.'
5 Rikers Island is seen in this aerial photograph taken in New York on October 31, 2012.
REUTERS
Fischer didn't return a request for comment.
Cuccia, who is not involved in the case, said Ordonez's attempt to wait out the feds in Rikers still might be better than the alternative.
He said he'd advise people facing immigration trouble to stay in local jail, where they have more rights.
'Immigration jails are kind of a black hole,' he said. 'Once you get in there, you can be stuck there for a very long time.'
— Additional reporting by Joe Marino and Jennie Taer