Four escaped migrants wanted on burglary, assault, and terror charges identified after fleeing NJ ICE detention facility

Four Migrant Detainees Escape from New Jersey Detention Center

Four migrant detainees managed to escape from a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in Newark during a riot. According to Homeland Security sources, the men were identified as Franklin Norberto Bautista-Reyes and Joel Enrique Sandoval-Lopez from Honduras, and Joan Sebastian Castaneda-Lozada and Andres Pineda-Mogollon from Colombia.

The detainees staged a revolt along with up to 50 others and pushed down a wall of a dormitory room inside the center, as reported by NJ.com. The escape was prompted by dissatisfaction with the quality and timeliness of their meals.

Some detainees used a rope made of bedsheets to descend from the third-floor dormitory, as reported by sources and a lawyer for a migrant detained at the facility.

Bautista-Reyes was arrested in May for aggravated assault, attempt to cause bodily injury, terroristic threats, and possession of a weapon for unlawful purposes. Sandoval-Lopez had been arrested twice in the last year, once for unlawful possession of a handgun and again in February for aggravated assault.

Castaneda-Lozada was arrested in May on burglary, theft, and conspiracy to commit burglary charges, while Pineda-Mogollon was being held on residential burglary, conspiracy to commit residential burglary, and possession of burglary tools charges.

Lopez illegally entered the US as a minor in 2019, while the other men snuck over the border during the Biden administration.

The GEO Group-operated facility where the escape occurred opened in May after the private prison company secured a $900 million deal with the Trump administration. Earlier, dozens of people protested outside Delaney Hall, which has faced scrutiny amid the Trump administration’s mass deportations.

Several police agencies responded to emergency calls, and the DHS and FBI are offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the four fugitives. DHS has brought in additional law enforcement partners to aid in the search for the escapees.

If anyone has information that may help locate these individuals, they are encouraged to call 911 or the ICE Tip Line at 866-DHS-2-ICE.