Sanctuary City Chicago: Migrants Accused of Stabbing, Shoplifting While Living in Taxpayer-Funded Shelters

Three Venezuelan nationals have been charged with a series of crimes after having recently arrived, potentially on migrant buses, in the sanctuary city of Chicago, Illinois.

Elvis Diaz Betancourt, a 27-year-old Venezuelan national who arrived in Chicago four months ago, was arrested and charged with stabbing and critically injuring another Venezuelan man in one of the city’s migrant shelters.

According to prosecutors, Betancourt stabbed the man near his right hip during a fight outside of a nearby park. The man was stabbed so deeply that he said he could see his organs. Betancourt allegedly tried to stab the man again, this time in the back, but ran off as the man pleaded for help.

When police arrived on the scene, the man was rushed to a nearby hospital.

While having his bond set at $20,000, prosecutors said Betancourt had only recently arrived in Chicago and had been living at the migrant shelter for three months. His two children are still in Venezuela.

In a separate case, 34-year-old Anduesa Cormena of Venezuela and 22-year-old Yeiber Colmenarez of Venezuela were arrested by Chicago police earlier this month after allegedly trying to shoplift more than $1,300 worth of clothing from a Macy’s.

Both of the Venezuelan nationals have been living in the city’s migrant shelter at the former Wadsworth Elementary School in South Side, Chicago. The shelter is opposed by many of the area’s residents who are outraged that Mayor Brandon Johnson is spending taxpayer dollars to give housing to new arrivals as homeless Chicagoans live on the streets.

“These are individuals who’ve not been in the country very long,” the judge said, according to CWB Chicago. “You’re now telling me that they were arrested at Macy’s, committing a felony retail theft. So the court wants some idea of who is in front of me … one person has already indicated he’s using another name. So, who are these people? Who are these individuals?”

While Colmenarez had not yet been arrested in Chicago, prosecutors revealed that the shoplifting charge was the third arrest for Cormena, who has only lived in the city for three weeks.

Cormena was charged with misdemeanor battery on April 27 after hitting an individual at the migrant shelter and then later for allegedly shoplifting at a Nordstrom store. On both occasions, he was released from police custody.

Colmenarez was ordered to pay a $1,500 bail, while Cormena’s bail was set at $5,000. Since last August, more than 8,000 border crossers and illegal aliens have arrived in Chicago.