New York has blown off 16,070 ICE detainer requests from the Trump administration, letting criminal migrants walk free despite being accused or convicted in a staggering 52,503 criminal charges, according to new data from the Department of Homeland Security. That’s not a typo. Fifty-two thousand.
The crimes attached to those ignored detainers include 131 homicides, 132 kidnappings, 1,017 sexual offenses, 9,502 assaults, 1,776 robberies, and 1,561 DUI counts, among many others. So the next time someone tells you sanctuary cities are just a talking point, hand them that list.
DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin did not mince words when he spoke to New York ICE detainer data. “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. “Illegal aliens have no sanctuary in America.
Mullin went further, pointing directly at the politicians making this mess possible. “We enforce these laws with no help from Mayor [Zohran] Mamdani and Governor [Kathy] Hochul,” he said. 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.
Governor Hochul has been busy making sure the situation stays exactly this dysfunctional. She signed the Local Cops, Local Crimes Act in August, which slapped restrictions on statewide cooperation with ICE on civil immigration matters. Albany also lets local governments set their own ICE policies, which is how New York City became the gold standard of letting dangerous people roam free in the name of progressive virtue signaling.
The Trump administration has officially labeled New York a “Sanctuary State,” which, given these numbers, seems less like an insult and more like a statement of obvious fact.
Hochul’s spokeswoman Alexia Nizhny pushed back, insisting, “Governor Hochul has been clear: New York State is not and never will be a sanctuary for violent criminals.” She also claimed the state always notifies federal immigration enforcement of non-citizens serving state prison sentences. The governor’s office says around 2,000 individuals held in state facilities have been turned over to federal enforcement since Trump returned to office.
Nizhny also accused DHS of “a blatant mischaracterization of the facts meant to distract from the cruelty and violence we saw from Secretary Mullin’s ICE agents earlier this week,” referring to an incident last week in the Bronx where ICE agents shot Oscar Belgal. According to ICE, Belgal refused orders to exit his vehicle, rammed two government cars, and then accelerated toward federal agents. Belgal was struck in the neck and is now in federal custody. His 5-year-old child was in the vehicle during the confrontation, which is a genuinely tragic detail that deserves to be reported straight.
ICE detainers are simply requests asking local law enforcement to hold a suspected illegal migrant for up to 48 hours so federal agents can take custody. They are not complicated. New York has said no more than 16,000 times anyway.
The standoff between the Trump administration and New York shows no sign of cooling down, with DHS continuing to press enforcement actions across the state with or without local cooperation. At this rate, Albany’s official state motto should just be, “We’ll get back to you on those murder suspects.”
