A migrant who pled guilty to raping a woman in a Brooklyn migrant shelter and is now accused of raping a woman under Coney Island’s boardwalk was released into the United States through President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris’s parole pipeline. The migrant faced no accountability after failing to check in with federal agents following his release at the border.
Daniel Davon-Bonilla, a 24-year-old migrant from Nicaragua, first crossed the United States-Mexico border near Eagle Pass, Texas, on Dec. 7, 2022.
After being briefly taken into custody, agents with Customs and Border Protection (CBP) released Davon-Bonilla into the U.S. with parole without a Notice to Appear (NTA) — claiming there was not enough detention space at the time to hold him.
Federal data, though, shows there were thousands of available Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) beds when Davon-Bonilla crossed the border.
Davon-Bonilla told CBP agents that, as part of his parole, he would be checking in with ICE agents frequently from Miami, Florida, where he vowed to relocate. Instead, Davon-Bonilla went straight to New York City, a sanctuary jurisdiction that refuses to cooperate with ICE.
Less than a month after his release at the border, Davon-Bonilla stopped checking in with ICE altogether after failing to check in every week with agents. Despite this, Davon-Bonilla faced no accountability for failing to check in with ICE.
Experts tell Breitbart News that this lack of accountability has occurred with hundreds of thousands of migrants who are released into the United States interior and are not required to physically check in with ICE agents in person at an office.
Internal records, they say, prove that migrants are much more likely to comply with the terms of their release when they are in physical contact with ICE agents and contractors.
Only a few months after arriving in New York City and failing to check in with ICE agents, Davon-Bonilla allegedly raped a transgender individual in a taxpayer-funded Brooklyn migrant shelter. In June of this year, Davon-Bonilla pleaded guilty to the rape and was released that same day from jail in Rikers Island.
New York City’s sanctuary policy ensured Davon-Bonilla was not turned over to ICE agents.
On August 9, Davon-Bonilla was due back in Brooklyn court for his sentencing hearing. He failed to show up. Two days later, New York City Police Department (NYPD) officers allege that Davon-Bonilla raped a homeless woman at knifepoint under the Coney Island boardwalk with the help of another migrant.
Experts tell Breitbart News that cases like Davon-Bonilla’s are entirely preventable but could become routine should the Biden-Harris administration continue to move forward with its plans to reduce the frequency with which migrants released into the U.S. interior are required to check in with ICE agents.
The pilot program, called a “ghost mode operation” by critics, allows migrants to check in with ICE agents via a cellphone or computer rather than requiring them to do so in person. There are not yet any consequences for migrants who fail to check in.
A key flaw with the program is that ICE agents cannot grab GPS data on migrants who check in with a computer; even when a migrant’s GPS data is collected, the data is only stored for a week.
Davon-Bonilla is now back at Rikers Island, awaiting trial in the Coney Island rape case. ICE agents are checking on the case frequently to ensure they can arrest Davon-Bonilla should he get released again by New York City officials.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at
