Homeland Security says New York refused more than 16,000 federal requests to hold criminal illegal immigrants for pickup, and it blames state and city rules that limit work with ICE.
Story Highlights
- DHS says New York did not honor 16,070 ICE detainers from Jan. 20, 2025, to Oct. 8, 2026.
- DHS says those detainers are tied to 52,503 criminal charges and convictions, including 131 homicides.
- DHS blames a law from Gov. Kathy Hochul in effect since Aug. 25 and an executive order from Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
- DHS says New York City’s count more than doubled between December 2025 and Sept. 14, 2026.
- DHS cites the Oct. 2 stabbing of an off-duty NYPD detective by two men it says the NYPD had released before ICE could ask for them.
What DHS Released
The Department of Homeland Security said on Monday, October 12, that New York refused 16,070 ICE detainers from Jan. 20, 2025, when President Trump took office, through Oct. 8, 2026. An ICE detainer is a request that a local jail hold someone for a short time, up to 48 hours, so federal immigration officers can pick that person up instead of seeing them walk free. DHS says the people behind those requests face or were convicted on 52,503 criminal charges, including 131 homicides and 9,502 assaults.
DHS says the reason is New York’s sanctuary rules. A sanctuary policy is a state or city rule that limits how much local police and jails help federal immigration officers. DHS points to a law Hochul signed in May, in effect since Aug. 25, that it says bars local police from cooperating with ICE. It also points to an executive order Mamdani, New York City’s mayor, signed in early 2026, which DHS says makes the city a “shield” for criminal illegal aliens.
What New York’s Leaders Have Said
Reports on the new numbers carried no response from Hochul’s office or Mamdani’s office. When DHS made a similar claim in December 2025, a Hochul spokesperson called it “categorically false.” The spokesperson said more than 1,500 people convicted of violent crimes since 2021 had been handed to federal immigration officers after finishing their state prison time.
Hochul’s law, called the Local Cops, Local Crimes Act, bans 287(g) agreements. Those are deals that let trained local officers do some federal immigration work under ICE’s watch. “I just banned it,” Hochul said in August. “It’s against the law now in the state of New York to have these agreements.” The law does not stop jails from telling ICE about someone in custody.
The Cases DHS Points To
DHS’s leading example is the Oct. 2 stabbing of an off-duty NYPD detective in an attempted robbery in the Bronx. DHS says the two men accused, both from the Dominican Republic, had been arrested by the NYPD before and released before ICE could lodge detainers. The detective survived and has left the hospital. A U.S. Marshals fugitive task force arrested both men on Oct. 6 in Lynn, Massachusetts, and they are awaiting return to New York, where they are expected to face attempted murder charges.
DHS also names Jose Antonio Ibarra, the Venezuelan man convicted of murdering Georgia nursing student Laken Riley in February 2024. DHS says the NYPD arrested and released him in 2023. The department lists other cases as well, from assault suspects to a four-times-deported man accused of shoving two people onto subway tracks.
Why the New Count Matters
In early December 2025, DHS said New York City’s refusals had led to 6,947 releases since Jan. 20, 2025. On Oct. 9, DHS put the city’s count at 14,916 refused detainers through Sept. 14, 2026, more than double in just over nine months. The new statewide figure runs through Oct. 8, about six weeks after Hochul’s law took effect.
DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin, who leads the department, said, “Illegal aliens have no sanctuary in America.” He added, “We enforce these laws with no help from Mayor Mamdani and Governor Hochul.” For New Yorkers, the fight comes down to who gets handed to federal officers and who walks out the jail door. The federal government wants more handoffs, and the state and city have drawn their lines.
