Tipsheet

Here's How Many ICE Detainers NYC Has Defied

Mia Cathell
Mia Cathell  |  January 30, 2024 4:30 PM

Last year, the Democrat-led city of New York, a de jure "sanctuary" for violent illegal immigrants to run rampant without fear of deportation, refused to comply with any of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)'s numerous detainment requests.

Out of the 109 detention requests that the New York City Police Department (NYPD) received between July 1, 2022, and June 30, 2023, NYC honored zero ICE detainers, according to a yearly report of citywide compliance statistics. Accordingly, this meant 109 illegal alien suspects were released from NYC lock-ups and not held for ICE to assume custody of the deportable criminals. Therefore, no illegal immigrants in NYPD's custody were transferred over to ICE during the 2022 - 2023 reporting cycle.

In fact, according to annual data, NYC has complied with zero ICE detainers since the time of former Mayor Bill de Blasio's reign:

Altogether, there were over 10,000 ICE detainers that NYC officials defied, meaning more than 10,000 fugitive aliens let loose:

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Detainers act as a request for advance notification of a subject's release and for the agency to continue to confine the inmate for a brief period so that ICE can take over without having to hunt down the at-large illegal alien. "Sanctuary cities" all over the country, such as NYC, have local laws, ordinances, and policies that shield illegal immigrants from deportation and place deportable criminals back on U.S. streets, affording them the chance to commit more crimes in the community and beyond.

In 2014, de Blasio signed two bills into law that drastically limited NYC's cooperation with federal immigration enforcement. Introductions 486-A and 487-A mandated that the city would no longer detain illegals on behalf of ICE for up to 48 hours past their scheduled release, except when there are "public safety concerns." The legislation's enactment was touted as a fulfillment of de Blasio's "One New York, Rising Together" pledge to make NYC "a welcoming and safe place for immigrant families."

It was estimated that the new policy would bring the percentage of ICE detainer compliance to virtually zero and prevent 2,000 to 3,000 illegals per year from being held in city custody to aid federal detention-and-deportation proceedings. 

Then, in 2017, the NYC Council passed Administrative Code § 10-178, which broadly restricted the use of city resources, including time spent by officers on duty and city property, to help enforce federal immigration law. Democrat councilmembers marketed the legislative package as "protect[ing] immigrant New Yorkers from President Trump's mass deportation efforts."

Currently, under the city's detainer laws (§ 14-154 and § 9-131), NYPD and the Department of Corrections (DOC) are strictly prohibited from honoring civil immigration detainers: "[P]ersonnel shall not expend time while on duty or department resources of any kind disclosing information that belongs to the department and is available to them only in their official capacity, in response to federal immigration inquiries or in communicating with federal immigration authorities regarding any person's incarceration status, release dates, court appearance dates, or any other information related to persons in the department's custody..."

However, NYC is permitted to notify ICE about the release of a felon who has been "convicted of a violent or serious crime."

This was not the case in 2020 when illegal alien Reeaz Khan raped and murdered an elderly woman, 92-year-old Maria Fuentes.

The senior citizen's rapist-murderer was previously arrested on assault and weapons charges for using a broken ceramic mug to slash the chest and arm of his father, who had to be hospitalized. Deportation officers lodged an ICE detainer against Khan; however, the "sanctuary city" freed the Guyanese national without bail despite the ICE detainer in place. Khan went on to sexually abuse and strangle Fuertes, who was collecting cans on a cold winter night. Left lying in the snow with a broken spine and fractured ribs, her half-naked battered body was found dumped on the freezing pavement in hypothermic condition.

ICE's Acting Director Matthew Albence said NYC's "sanctuary city" policies were responsible for the slaying of Fuertes. In his State of the Union address, President Donald Trump similarly blamed the city for defying ICE's detainer request: "Under New York's sanctuary policies, [the killer] was set free. If the city had honored ICE's detainer request, his victim would be alive today."

Claiming that NYC is the "safest city in America," de Blasio defended the "sanctuary" laws as "common-sense" legislation that has "driven crime to record lows." The former mayor noted the conviction exceptions (in the event that an illegal alien is convicted of the enumerated felonies) that trigger cooperation with federal authorities. "That policy has kept us safe," de Blasio argued.

"If Mr. Khan is convicted, the city will cooperate with federal officials in accordance with local law," de Blasio spokesperson Olivia Lapeyrolerie announced after public backlash, adding: "It is shameful that the Trump administration is politicizing this tragedy."

NYPD initially denied receiving an ICE detainer request when Khan was in the city's custody, but ICE released a copy of the fax transmission form proving that federal immigration authorities had asked local law enforcement to hand him over for deportation.

"ICE could've wallpapered the precinct with detainers & #NYPD would still not have honored them," Albence remarked.

In October, NYC's current Mayor Eric Adams indicated that the city's "sanctuary" status won't stop him from cooperating with federal immigration enforcement in any legal way he can, as a deluge of illegal migrants continues to flood the concrete jungle.

During his four-day trip to Latin America in the fall, Adams said he would "follow the law and whatever the law requires us" when asked about the Biden administration's U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) resuming deportation flights to Venezuela, though he stressed he won't "do anything" that violates NYC's rules governing how local law enforcement interacts with ICE:

Moderator: Do you plan on assisting the federal government with deportation efforts with Venezuelans?

Adams: What we're going to do in New York City is we're going to follow the law and whatever the law requires us to do in New York City [inaudible] we're going to do that. We're going to comply with whatever laws our city has in place. As everyone knows, I don't break laws; I follow laws, and we're going to make sure whatever the law is—that's what we want to follow.

Reporter: [...] If you're following the law on that, does that in some way affect the city's status as a sanctuary city. I mean, can you just kind of get into the weeds more on that? If you're helping with deportations—which the federal government's trying to do—would that in some way impact the city's status as a sanctuary city? And if so, how?

Adams: Our city is very clear on what the law is around coordinating with ICE, and those are the laws that this administration is going to comply with. The laws are very clear, and I'm going to adhere to the laws that were in place prior to me getting in office, and I'm not going to do anything to go against those laws.

Adams has changed his tune since vowing on the campaign trail to keep NYC "a sanctuary city under an Adams administration." His city is now overrun by migrants, as a result of Adams rhetorically laying down the welcome mat for illegal immigration.