ANALYSIS | Sanctuary New York released more than 16,000 illegal aliens from jail

Since President Donald Trump returned to the White House in January 2025, the Empire State’s Democratic leadership has released onto the streets more than 16,000 illegal aliens charged with or convicted of crimes in the U.S. rather than hand those illegal aliens over to federal immigration authorities.

Between Jan. 20, 2025, and Oct. 8, 2026, New York refused to honor 16,070 Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainer requests, according to data from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). ICE detainer requests ask state and local prisons or jails to continue detaining known illegal aliens charged or convicted with crimes in order for ICE agents to arrest the illegal aliens in prisons or jails instead of hunting them down on the street, or to alert agents when illegal aliens are scheduled to be released.

The 16,070 illegal aliens released onto the streets by New York officials have been charged with or convicted of a combined total of 52,503 crimes, including more than 130 counts of homicide, more than 130 kidnappings, more than 1,000 sexual offenses, nearly 10,000 assaults, and thousands of other crimes, ranging from drunk driving and drug offenses to robberies and burglaries.

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin criticized New York’s Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul and New York City’s Democratic Mayor Zohran Mamdani for implementing sanctuary policies shielding illegal aliens and jeopardizing the safety of U.S. citizens.

“While sanctuary politicians continue to release dangerous criminals onto their streets, our brave law enforcement officers will continue to risk their lives to arrest these heinous criminals and make America safe again,” Mullin said in an Oct. 12 statement.

“Illegal aliens have no sanctuary in America,” he continued. “We enforce these laws with no help from Mayor Mamdani and Governor Hochul.”

In its Oct. 12 press release, DHS listed instances of dangerous illegal aliens being released onto the streets by New York officials. Aureliano Antonio Melendez Reyes, for example, is an illegal alien from El Salvador who was arrested for raping a 16-year-old girl; New York officials rejected an ICE detainer request in June, according to the release. Roman Ceron Amatitla, an illegal alien from Mexico, was charged with murder and arson; ICE lodged a detainer request in April, which New York officials did not honor.

Bairon Posada-Hernandez, a four-time deported illegal alien from Honduras, was arrested for shoving two bystanders, including an 83-year-old Air Force veteran, onto subway tracks in New York City; an ICE detainer request lodged in March was rejected. Felix Jeronimo-Rojas, an illegal alien from Mexico, was arrested last year for raping and robbing a corpse on a New York City subway; an ICE detainer request filed in April was ignored. Instead, Jeronimo-Rojas was sentenced to five years in prison in the U.S.

DHS also highlighted examples of illegal aliens released by New York officials who proceeded to commit further crimes after being released. Notably, Jose Antonio Ibarra, an illegal alien from Venezuela and a member of the transnational Tren de Aragua criminal gang, was arrested in New York City in 2023 for recklessly driving a motorcycle with a two-year-old passenger who was not wearing a helmet, according to the release. Ibarra was released by New York officials and boarded a plane to Georgia. Six months after his release, he murdered 22-year-old Georgia nursing student Laken Riley.

Mullin condemned the New York Sanctuary laws which had permitted or tolerated such crimes, warning sanctuary jurisdiction officials not to impede ICE operations.

“The Trump Administration is committed to protecting the American people in every city and every state, and we won’t let sanctuary politicians stand in our way,” Mullin said. “If you’re a state or local politician, your best bet is to cooperate with us so we can all make America safe again.”

The DHS report comes just days after an ICE agent shot and injured an illegal alien in New York City. Hochul and Mamdani both faulted ICE for the incident, highlighting the fact that the illegal alien, Oscar Bengal, had a five-year-old child in the car with him when he was shot.

Hochul said in an Oct. 8 X post that she spoke to Trump and Mullin and “expressed outrage on behalf of New Yorkers,” further calling on the administration “to halt ICE enforcement operations in New York.”

She also said that she spoke to the mother of the five-year-old and “just wanted to give her a hug and tell her this should never have happened to you.”

Mamdani claimed in an X post that ICE agents “surrounded” the illegal alien before opening fire.

“This is an unconscionable and incredibly serious situation. I have called the President; when we speak I will demand that he ends all ICE enforcement actions in our city. I will not stand by while ICE agents terrorize our communities,” he said.

“Our thoughts are with the injured New Yorker and his family tonight. We are praying for his recovery,” Mamdani continued. “Get ICE out of our neighborhoods. Get ICE out of our hospitals. Get ICE off our streets. Get ICE away from our children.”

According to the DHS, the illegal alien had been previously convicted of grand larceny and had been arrested multiple times for armed robbery, drug trafficking, and assault. He was also affiliated with the Trinitarios gang and was under investigation by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in connection to the 2025 murder of a Customs and Border Protection officer.

While HSI and the Federal Bureau of Investigation are currently investigating the incident, an Oct. 8 DHS press release reported that the illegal alien was surrounded by ICE vehicles and ordered to exit his vehicle. Instead, he allegedly accelerated, smashed through two ICE vehicles, and drove towards ICE agents who were nearby on foot.

ICE Executive Associate Director Marcos Charles said that the ICE agents “believ[ed] their lives and the lives of their partners and the general public were in danger,” which is why they “fired their weapons.”

Mullin said in a statement on the incident that sanctuary city and sanctuary state politicians “create an environment for criminal activity to thrive, not for American citizens to be safe,” adding, “I’ll never apologize for our men and women doing their job. I’m very proud of them.”

Both the state and city of New York have numerous sanctuary provisions in place.

In May, Hochul signed into law the “Local Cops, Local Crimes Act,” part of a larger budget bill, prohibiting state and local law enforcement agencies from cooperating, collaborating, or contracting with ICE and barring those agencies from using resources, personnel, or property to assist with immigration enforcement.

The provision builds on a 2017 executive order from then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, which Hochul continued, barring state employees from inquiring about or investigating immigration status or sharing information known about immigration with federal agencies. The 2019 “Greenlight Law” also allows non-citizens, including illegal aliens, to obtain New York driver’s licenses.

New York City has many of the same provisions implemented at the municipal level, in addition to more stringent sanctuary restrictions. Local Law 228, passed by the City Council in 2017, mirrors the state’s prohibition against cooperation or collaboration with ICE, but other municipal laws forbid city police or corrections officers from honoring ICE detainer requests or even alerting ICE when illegal aliens convicted of serious crimes are scheduled to be released.

Local Laws 58 and 59 require ICE to both obtain a judicial warrant signed by a federal judge or magistrate and find either a conviction for a “violent or serious crime” or find the name of the illegal alien to be arrested on a terrorist watchlist before New York City law enforcement agencies are permitted to honor an ICE detainer request.

In February, Mamdani also issued Executive Order 13, requiring a citywide audit to ensure compliance with state and local sanctuary laws and requiring that ICE obtain judicial warrants before using any city-owned property for immigration enforcement operations.

Jessica Vaughan, director of policy studies at the Center for Immigration Studies, told Zeale News that New York officials “risk the safety of their residents by ignoring ICE detainers and releasing deportable criminals back to the streets.”

“They are very lucky that ICE is doing its job very well right now, or these criminals would be able to stay and continue to prey on people,” she added. “Congress needs to step in and mandate penalties and consequences for these policies, such as by allowing the victims to sue the local government, and by barring certain federal funds from going to sanctuary jurisdictions.”

According to Just the News, Republicans in the House of Representatives are working on legislation to authorize citizens to sue local officials over sanctuary policies. The Shut Down Sanctuary Policies Act was approved by the House Judiciary Committee last month. The bill would create a right of private action for the victims or families of victims of crimes committed by illegal aliens to sue the municipalities and officials who released those illegal aliens from custody.

House Judiciary Committee chairman Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, said that “we got a good deal that we worked long and hard on. We just got to try to get it passed in the lame duck” sessions of Congress.

The bill “allows people who’ve been harmed” by sanctuary policies “to go take that city, take that state to court,” Jordan said.