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Federal officials on Thursday slammed the Empire State’s sanctuary policies after an illegal immigrant was charged with raping a 27-year-old woman inside a Brooklyn building.
Reynaldo Mayna Cordero, a 35-year-old Peruvian immigrant who entered the US illegally in 2023, was free despite a string of violent crimes when he allegedly followed the victim into her Bedford-Stuyvesant apartment building and raped her on Sunday, the feds said.
“This illegal alien’s criminal history includes anal rape, strongarm assault with a deadly weapon, forcible touching, touching sexual/intimate parts of another person and third-degree sexual assault,” Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said in a statement.
“Yet sanctuary politicians in New York invited this vile criminal into their community,” Mullin said. “Sanctuary politicians have handcuffed their law enforcement and are allowing criminal activity to thrive, while the American people become less safe.”
The DHS chief said Mayna Cordero crossed the US border with Mexico illegally near San Diego on Aug. 18, 2023, but was released into the country under Biden Administration policies.
Law enforcement sources said Mayna Cordero has one Big Apple arrest in 2025 for criminal mischief in Manhattan. Federal officials did not immediately respond to a request for more information on the immigrant’s prior criminal history.
But the NYPD said he allegedly assaulted the Brooklyn woman around 12:30 a.m. Sunday near Bedford Avenue and Willoughby Avenue.
Police and sources said he rode up on an e-bike, slapped the woman’s rear then followed her into the building, where he allegedly raped her before fleeing.
Cops released surveillance photos and arrested Mayna Cordero on Monday night.
DHS and Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials have since placed a detainer on him. New York’s sanctuary policies prohibit local enforcement to honor federal detainers on immigrants.