Two Residential Fires Displace More Bronx Residents

Two recent residential fires in the north Bronx have left more residents displaced, Red Cross officials said. An FDNY spokesperson said there were no injuries reported following a residential fire at 3065 Grand Concourse in Bedford Park on Wednesday night, Jan. 29. FDNY officials said they received a call at 9.53 p.m. for a reported fire at the 6-story, multiple dwelling located between East 203rd Street and East 204th Street.

Fear Palpable among Immigrant Community as Feds Converge on Bronx amid ICE Raids

Federal agents from a host of different law enforcement agencies converged last month on at least three locations in The Bronx, one in Manhattan, and another in Queens in efforts to detain undocumented migrants. The raids came days after Republican U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Jan. 22, suspending “the physical entry of aliens engaged in an invasion of the United States through the southern border.” This order had, in turn, followed a prior Jan. 20 executive order authorizing the detention of “unregistered aliens,” among other immigration-related actions.

Former Bronx Professor Gets Over 8 Years for Human Trafficking & Sex Crimes

A 45-year-old Bronx man, Jorge Alberto Ramos, was sentenced on Thursday, Feb. 6, to over 8 years in prison for smuggling three female victims from El Salvador to the U.S., where he sexually abused them, federal prosecutors said. The man’s sentence was also for possessing child pornography. Danielle R. Sassoon, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, said the sentence was imposed by U.S. District Judge John G. Koeltl, who also presided over the defendant’s guilty plea.