Four illegal migrants living in tax-funded Chicago shelter filmed choking man before stealing from him

A group of four Venezuelan migrants, have been charged with attempted murder and robbery.

Fernando Loyo-Rodriguez, Wilker Gutierrez Sierra, Carlos Carreno-Carreno and Yonnier Guasamucare Garcia appeared in Cook County court on Tuesday status-detention hearing, Fox News reports.

In the footage, four men appear to befriend their victim in the train car before he is suddenly grabbed from behind. The man is then choked and loses consciousness. As he falls to the ground, one of the suspects covers the camera.

When he moves back, one of the group is seen rummaging through his pockets. Police said one of the suspects held a knife to the victim's throat during the attack.

The group fled the scene with a cellphone and $400, leaving their victim unconscious in the back of the train car. The suspects, who are aged between 18 and 22, were arrested 45 minutes later. Each gave a state-funded migrant shelter as an address.

Carreno-Carreno, Loyo-Rodriguez and Guasamucare Garcia were put in custody, while Gutierrez Sierra was let out on ankle monitor. They are due back in court on August 28. The four were each represented by a separate public defender, did not look at or acknowledge each other in court, and only spoke to the judge through an interpreter.

Immigration is a core election issue ahead of the November US presidential election, with President Joe Biden eager to show voters he can control illegal crossings at the southern border.

He has pointed to a recent fall in apprehensions at the US-Mexico border as evidence his policies, including a broad asylum ban on migrants caught crossing illegally, are working.

On June 18, the President announced new actions that include easing the process for eligible noncitizen spouses of US citizens to obtain lawful permanent residence (LPR), a status that does not confer the right to vote in federal, state and most local elections.

Biden’s new immigration policy does not grant citizenship to undocumented immigrants but eases the process for eligible noncitizens to obtain lawful permanent residence, a status that can’t vote in federal elections.

Meanwhile, his rival Donald Trump has made immigration one of his top domestic campaign issues, declaring he would carry out mass deportations, use the National Guard and possibly federal troops, end birth right citizenship and expand a travel ban on people from certain countries.

The Republican has referred to some migrants as "animals" who are "poisoning the blood of our country," among other controversial remarks, and has not ruled out building detention camps on US soil.

However, Trump said foreigners who graduate from a US college would get a green card allowing them to stay.

A campaign spokesperson later clarified that this policy would only apply to a select set of the "most skilled" graduates who had been thoroughly vetted.