Three migrants were arrested in the Bronx early Monday in a citywide crime spree that included stealing women’s phones off the street.
Police executed a search warrant at the suspected safe house and made the arrests.
They are expected to be charged with multiple robberies and grand larcenies and more are being sought.
The suspects are all believed to be from Venezuela.
The men were linked to a pattern of at least 62 incidents of women having their pocketbooks and phones snatched.
Detectives believe the suspects were snatching the phones to access the Apple Pay feature, and using credit cards linked to the phones to buy items.
“172-thousand migrants, asylum seekers, who are here overwhelmingly, many of here just want the same things all of our families want. For those who think they can come to our country, break our laws, assault our cops, that was not only an assault on an individual. That was an assault on our public safety,” Mayor Adams said.
“Their behavior is horrible. They need to deport them,” a resident said.