ICE head 'frustrated' with NYC blocking deportation as city houses 58K criminal immigrants
New York City is home to nearly 60,000 illegal immigrants who are either convicted felons or facing criminal charges, with the city's head of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement expressing frustration with the sanctuary city laws that he says prevent deportation.
These criminal immigrants make up 7.7% of the 759,218 illegal immigrants living in the city, according to ICE data cited in a Saturday report by The New York Post. Of the 58,626 immigrants with criminal records, over 1,000 are "suspected or known gang members."
Kenneth Genalo, head of ICE's New York City office, told the outlet last month that he is "frustrated" with New York's sanctuary laws that prevent criminal immigrants from being deported.
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"The only people they're shielding are the criminals, and they're shielding the criminals from us," Genalo said of city council members.
"The majority of these crimes that are being committed are against the most vulnerable people in the community, and that's the migrant females and the migrant children. I don't understand how they believe sanctuary policies are helping or assisting."
"In New York City, it would take a lifetime to clear the city of the criminals that we have" if policies are not changed, Genalo told The New York Post.
In 2014, then-New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio signed a bill that reduced the city's cooperation with ICE in deporting criminals. Then, in 2018, the former Democratic mayor codified this rule into New York Police Department protocol.
Current New York City Mayor Eric Adams has advocated for changing the laws that prevent local authorities from working with federal officials. However, the Democratic leader has also expressed disagreement with the mass deportations promised by President-elect Donald Trump and his administration.
"This is a sanctuary city," Adams said during a press conference last month. "Those laws are in place. I want people to continue to go to school. I want people to continue to use our hospital systems."
"I want people to continue to know that if they're a victim of a crime, they should report those criminal actions against them," he added. "I don't want to go to the days where people are going to hide in the shadows."
ICE and the office of Mayor Eric Adams did not immediately respond to The Christian Post's request for comment.
New York City is not the only part of the country where illegal immigrant gang activity is making headlines, particularly members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua. Members of the transnational criminal organization have been spotted throughout the United States, including Colorado and Texas.
The gang received media attention, especially around the 2024 presidential election, after footage of heavily armed men taking over an apartment building in Aurora, Colorado, went viral online. Local police announced that several reports about the gang had been exaggerated; however, authorities stated in September that they were investigating 10 suspected gang members for their involvement in a series of crimes.
Last month, a Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) spokesperson told CP that intelligence suggests that Tren de Aragua is involved with fostering human trafficking throughout the state. The earliest crime TBI linked the gang to is a 2023 human trafficking case, and the bureau is working with multiple law enforcement agencies across the country to raise awareness about the gang.
"At this time, intelligence suggests the gang is predominantly still involved in fostering human trafficking in Tennessee, but the known track record of the gang's involvement in theft and drug crimes elsewhere continues to inform our concerted efforts to better understand and more consistently identify Tennessee crimes that may be connected to TdA," the spokesperson stated.
In addition to gang activity, immigration and enforcement policies have been at the forefront of political discussions following the deaths of women like Laken Riley. Jose Ibarra, a migrant who entered the country illegally in 2022, murdered a 22-year-old nursing student earlier this year in Georgia.
Republican lawmakers blamed immigration policies and lack of border security under the Biden-Harris administration for Riley's death.
Late last month, a judge sentenced Ibarra to life in prison without parole for the young woman's murder after the defendant waived his right to a jury trial. In a victim statement read before the court, Riley's mother, Allyson Phillips, called her daughter a "child of God."
Samantha Kamman is a reporter for The Christian Post. She can be reached at: [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter: @Samantha_Kamman
