A man was arrested, got out of jail for free, and was given a ticket to California

Question

Elon Musk posted on X claiming that an immigrant beat up police officers in Times Square, got out of jail for free, and was given free tickets to California. Is this true? Many responses were saying a community note was attached to his post claiming it was false, but it is no longer there. Many believe he paid for it to be removed.

Answer 1

This is technically true but incredibly simplified. There were a group of migrant men who attacked NYPD officers when they were trying to apprehend one and they were all arrested but released without bail. The misleading part is that they were just "given free tickets." They gave fake names to a Church-affiliated nonprofit group that gives free rides out of the city to migrants. One of the suspects was on supervised release so the attack wasn’t completely without consequence, he just violated his court order. I think it's a misleading in the way Elon worded it, especially because Biden had nothing to do with it.

https://nypost.com/2024/02/01/metro/police-believe-4-of-the-migrants-arrested-in-nyc-cop-beatdown-fled-to-california/

https://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/us-news/elon-musk-is-not-happy-about-the-attackers-release-after-assault-on-nypd-officers-in-times-square-101709972606894.html 

Answer 2

Although many of the events appear to be true, they are not as straightforward as Musk describes. In a post on X that Fox Business also reported on, Musk said, "[Democrats refusing to deport illegal immigrants] has become so brazen that a gang of illegals can beat up police officers on camera in Times Square, get out of jail for free, and still not get deported!" 

First, not all of the suspects were released without bail. CBS News reported that Yohenry Brito was charged with two counts of robbery and two counts of assault on a police officer and had his bail set at $15,000 cash. Additionally, the suspects were not simply given free bus tickets by the government. The suspects boarded the bus using fake names provided to a nonprofit group that was working with the city to address migrant issues.

Musk's framing suggests that such events are commonplace. Expert commentary provides some context about the frequency of such incidents. According to reporting by ABC 7 NY, Robert Agyemang, the Vice President of the New York Immigration Coalition, says, "I think that we have to really highlight that these are isolated incidents...it feeds into the belief system that these people are coming and they're messing up things when it's not really the case." Similarly, Anthony Capote of the Immigration Research Initiative emphasizes that "very often they are very, very afraid of crime because they know crime is a one-way ticket for deportation."

Answer 3

This claim is partially true, but misleading. Musk did comment on a real incident involving migrants assaulting NYPD officers near Times Square, and some of those individuals were later released and reportedly traveled to California. However, there is no evidence that they were given “free tickets” by the government or that Musk’s post was entirely accurate.

Answer 4

The claim “A man was arrested, got out of jail for free, and was given a ticket to California” appears to be true. According to Hindustan Times (hindustantimes), a total of 7 men were charged for a similar attack on an NYPD officer. Shortly after each group of men was arrested, they were each set free without bail. The suspects were then believed to have boarded a bus with fake names and fled to California. Although it is unclear if the men paid for the tickets to California or not, most of the claim appears to be true.  

Mahapatra, Tuhin Das. “Musk Is Not Happy about the Attackers’ Release after Assault on NYPD Officers | Hindustan Times.” Hindustan Times, 9 Mar. 2024, www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/us-news/elon-musk-is-not-happy-about-the-attackers-release-after-assault-on-nypd-officers-in-times-square-101709972606894.html. Accessed 23 Oct. 2025.

Answer 5

Tesla founder, owner of X, and weirdly involved in politics, Elon Musk used his platform X (Twitter) to make his thoughts known when he posted about illegal immigrants being released from jail and "given" free tickets to California. Elon provided no evidence or sources for this post, and there's no way to prove whether what he is posting is actually real. Elon, who has been very active on social media, particularly in the political scene, has continued to make his opinions known by attempting to use his influence to spread his own messages.

When searching for information on this topic, there are very few sources describing how the men were supposedly released and given free tickets. One article from the Hindustan Times stated that multiple men were detained shortly after an altercation involving the assault of a police officer. The article states that all the men who were apprehended were released shortly without bail. The article continues stating "Two additional suspects, Yohenry Brito, 24, and Jandry Barros, 21. Brito was charged with robbery and felony assault." The article then states, "the suspects were believed to have boarded a bus to California and fled with false names." (1) This tells us that the original men who were detained were not the men who actually committed the crime, and therefore were released without being charged. This also shows us that the men who actually committed the crime fled using fake names on a bus to California.

While parts of what Elon claims are technically correct, his claims are both misleading and exaggerated. The men who were released didn't commit any crime and were rightfully released. Along with that, no one received free tickets to California; the criminals who assaulted the police officer fled using fake names. Elon's claims are inaccurate

1)https://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/us-news/elon-musk-is-not-happy-about-the-attackers-release-after-assault-on-nypd-officers-in-times-square-101709972606894.html