New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and Mayor Zohran Mamdani (Getty)
The Department of Homeland Security said New York has refused to honor more than 16,000 Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainers since the start of the Trump administration.
The detainers request that authorities hold illegal aliens for up to 48 hours beyond their scheduled release so ICE can take custody.
ICE figures show that the 16,070 detainers not honored from Jan. 20, 2025, to Oct. 8, 2026, are tied to 52,503 criminal charges and convictions, including 131 homicides, 132 kidnappings, and 1,017 sexual offenses.
The charges and convictions also include 9,502 assaults, 4,324 drug offenses, 2,198 weapons offenses, 1,776 robberies, 1,631 burglaries, and 1,561 DUI offenses.
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin faulted New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Gov. Kathy Hochul in a statement: “We enforce these laws with no help from Mayor Mamdani and Governor Hochul.
“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.”
DHS said the release follows a shooting last week in New York City in which authorities alleged that an illegal alien used his vehicle as a weapon against ICE officers, prompting an officer to fire, which authorities said was in self-defense.
Less than a week earlier, DHS said, two illegal aliens from the Dominican Republic stabbed an off-duty New York Police Department detective in an attempted robbery.
Both had been arrested in New York on earlier charges and released before ICE could lodge detainers.
Hochul signed legislation in May restricting local police departments’ cooperation with ICE. The law took effect Aug. 25.
DHS also cited recent cases, including that of an illegal alien from Honduras who had been deported four times and was arrested in March on suspicion of shoving two bystanders, including an 83-year-old Air Force veteran, onto New York City subway tracks.
DHS said the city’s jail system in April refused a detainer for an illegal alien from Mexico charged with murder and arson in Queens County.
The administration said another case involves the 2024 murder of nursing student Laken Riley in Georgia by Jose Ibarra, an illegal alien from Venezuela who was arrested by NYPD officers in 2023 and released before an immigration detainer could be issued, according to ICE.
© 2026 Newsmax. All rights reserved.