Last week, two detainees escaped from an immigration detention center in Newark, New Jersey for possible deportation. One of the escapees, Franklin Norberto Bautista Reyes, has been apprehended, while the other escapee, Andres Felipe Pineda Mogollon, is yet to be seized. The initial reward for their capture was raised to $25,000. This follows two more detainees escaping last week, with one being arrested in Passaic on Saturday and another being taken into custody on Sunday.
Mogollon is a 25-year-old Colombian national and has overstayed a tourist visa, according to the Department of Homeland Security. Mogollon was also originally arrested on local petty larceny and residential burglary charges before escaping.
The Department of Homeland Security have also stated that “Additional law enforcement partners have been brought in to find these escapees and a BOLO [be on the lookout] has been disseminated” and that “We encourage the public to call 911 or the ICE Tip Line: 866-DHS-2-ICE if they have information that may lead to the locating of these individuals.”
The center the four men were held at, Delaney Hall, were reportedly made with third-rate construction work, with investigators reporting that they escaped by kicking a wall at the facility that was constructed by a worker without a permit.
According to the New Jersey Senator, Andy Kim, the construction was “essentially just dry wall with some mesh inside that led to an exterior wall. It shows just how shoddy the construction was here.” This also follows a previous incident at Delaney Hall in May when protests broke out at the facility.
