Previously Published in The Messenger
By Matt Meduri
On March 1, 2026, Suffolk County Police arrested three El Salvadoran nationals in the United States illegally, who were found in possession of two Molotov Cocktails and a canister of gasoline at a car stop on Lexington Avenue in Brentwood.
Elvis Osvaldo Romero Martinez, 20, Albert Yanes Moran, 20, and Lorenzo Nohely Alvarado Navarrete, 18, were released following their March 11 arraignment due to the People’s inability to request bail and the court’s inability to set bail under the current New York State bail laws. Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Third Degree is not a bail-eligible offense. Only Navarrete as Lawful Permanent Resident Status. Neither Moran nor Martinez have any legal status in the U.S.
The investigation says that the defendants allegedly possessed the cocktails with the intention of “firebombing” a car belonging to an individual with whom the trio had had a previous dispute. A fourth individual, who has not yet been charged, was alleged to have directed the firebombing. Suffolk Police say that Martinez allegedly jumped from the driver’s seat of the vehicle into the back seat. Police found two Molotov Cocktails in glass beer bottles in the pocket of the rear driver’s side door. The canister of gasoline was found in the trunk of the vehicle.
If convicted, the defendants face a prison sentence of up to seven years.
New York State Assemblyman Jarett Gandolfo (R-Sayville) led the charge in Albany to highlight the dovetailing of poor criminal justice policy and poor immigration policy. Gandolfo was joined by members of the Suffolk delegations to Albany, Assemblywoman Jodi Giglio (R-Baiting Hollow), Assemblyman Mike Durso (R-Massapequa Park), and Senators Anthony Palumbo (R-New Suffolk) and Dean Murray (R-East Patchogue). Along for the trip Upstate was Suffolk County Legislature Presiding Officer Anthony Piccirillo (R-Holtsville).
“Not only were they [the defendants] required to be released, federal agents were not allowed to arrest them at the courthouse despite the fact that two of the three are in the United States illegally,” said Gandolfo. The Protect Our Courts Act is to blame for that lack of oversight, Gandolfo added.
Laken’s Law, a bill proposed by Gandolfo in 2024 named after Laken Riley, a Georgia student who was brutally murdered by an illegal immigrant with a prior criminal record, is now a subject of discussion again. Laken’s Law would repeal the Protects Our Courts Act and allow federal immigration authorities to conduct arrests at courthouses.
“Now, these three individuals from El Salvador who possessed Molotov Cocktails were sprung loose back into the community and will have the chance to do harm,” said Gandolfo. “Who knows what they will do now that they are set free and roaming the community again? Will they make more Molotov Cocktails and firebomb a car? Will they kill someone, God forbid?”
In those events, Gandolfo said a “straight line” could be drawn right back to Albany, as the people of Suffolk have “consistently voted for safer streets,” and a District Attorney in Ray Tierney (R) who will “lock up criminals.”
“But New York State’s law, the sanctuary policies, and the cashless bail policies prevent our law enforcement from doing the job that they need to do,” said Gandolfo.
The Return of Laken’s Law
First and foremost, the bill would repeal the Protect Our Courts Act, and Senator Palumbo, Ranking Member on the Judiciary and Codes committees, said that “five iterations” of bail reform have been done by the State Legislature since its initial passage in 2019. He said the “only reason” some Democrats are making changes is because they are “embarrassed” by how much of a “terrible idea” the bail reforms turned out to be.
“The greater issue is that they [Democrats] fail to see the forest for the trees,” said Palumbo. “Because now we have yet another extremely dangerous situation. It’s not anecdotal because it [bail reform] still hasn’t been fixed. Someone can do the exact same thing tomorrow and go home.”
Palumbo said that sanctuary policies have created “such an unnecessary and unreasonably dangerous situation,” shedding light on the “resistance” across the country.
“ICE is going to do their jobs whether you like it or not,” added Palumbo. He stated that much of the nationwide resistance is because states fail to cooperate with the federal government as they once did, and that sanctuary policies like the Protect Our Courts Act only create a revolving-door situation that requires more federal agents looking for defendants.
“We essentially have raids taking place in order for them to do their job, and that’s really the insanity of the sanctuary policy,” said Palumbo. He countered the common argument that “only criminal” aliens should be removed, instead of “working individuals who are just here illegally and haven’t committed crimes.”
“If they would have allowed this transfer to take place in the jail, it would have been safe, quick, and easy,” said Palumbo (pictured above) of the three Molotov Cocktail defendants. “It’s counterintuitive to what many of my [Democratic] colleagues are looking to accomplish. They say, ‘we’re all for removing criminals.’ Okay then, why don’t [we] just do that?”
What They’re Saying
Presiding Officer Piccirillo lent hyper-local support to the issue, namely owing to Suffolk’s leading of the charge against ineffective criminal justice policy.
“We can’t have a safer Suffolk County when you tie the hands of law enforcement and prosecutors,” said Piccirillo. “This situation is more than madness; it borders on insanity. But that seems to be what happens with our colleagues on the other side of the aisle. They’ve made a serious mistake, and instead of fixing that mistake, they’ve doubled down on it.” Piccirillo added that as the leader of the Suffolk County Legislature, “we work with law enforcement every single day to give them the tools and technology to keep residents that we all serve safe.”
“Unfortunately, they can’t do that. Their hands are now tied behind their back because of the laws passed in this chamber by the Democratic supermajority,” said Piccirillo.
“When you have cashless bail, sanctuary policies, it’s just a recipe for chaos,” said Gandolfo. “These are deeply unserious policies and how many times have we heard the phrase, ‘bail reform is working as intended?’ Everyone’s heard that.
I’ve even heard conspiracy theories that D.A.’s are intentionally trying to sabotage bail reform by releasing dangerous criminals back onto the streets just because they don’t like the law. It’s nonsense.”
Senator Dean Murray summed up the outrage with a simple question, “what’s next?”
“They come into our country illegally. They violate our immigration laws. Well, you can’t kick them out because they didn’t commit a ‘crime,’” said Murray (pictured left). “Molotov Cocktails, they get let out – bail reform. What does it take for you to open your eyes and see this is dangerous? I don’t want the next step to be someone losing their life, and unfortunately, I’m afraid that’s what it would take.”
Gandolfo called the ongoing budget negotiations an opportunity to “revisit some of these policies that are clearly broken and allow dangerous criminals to walk free” and to remedy immigration laws that allow “criminals who shouldn’t even be allowed to remain in this country to evade capture and continue victimizing their communities.”