N.Y. AG James Says She Won’t Help ICE Enforce Detainers

Far-left Democratic New York Attorney General Letitia James will not cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to keep dangerous illegal-alien criminals off the streets, she wrote in a letter to acting ICE Director Todd Lyons.

James was responding to a missive from Lyons, who told the disgraced attorney general that sanctuary cities and towns had ignored detainers and unleashed nearly 7,000 illegal-alien thugs, goons, rapists, and murderers upon unsuspecting New Yorkers since President Trump took office. 

James said she can do nothing about the problems. Her hands, she claimed, are tied legally.

DHS Report

The Department of Homeland Security summarized the data that Lyons gave James on Monday. 

“New York’s failure to honor ICE detainers has resulted in the release of 6,947 criminal illegal aliens since January 20,” the department reported:

The crimes of these aliens include 29 homicides, 2,509 assaults, 199 burglaries, 305 robberies, 392 dangerous drugs offenses, 300 weapons offenses, and 207 sexual predatory offenses. 

There are currently 7,113 aliens in the custody of a New York jurisdiction with an active detainer. The crimes of these aliens include 148 homicides, 717 assaults, 134 burglaries, 106 robberies, 235 dangerous drugs offenses, 152 weapons offenses, and 260 sexual predatory offenses.  

Lyons Letter

“These are people who are not only in the country illegally but who have committed additional crimes, including heinous crimes like murder, rape, possession of child pornography, armed robbery, and many others,” Lyons wrote James, Fox News reported:

Virtually all Americans agree that people like this should be swiftly removed from the United States when they leave New York’s custody and not be returned to our streets to wreak havoc on law-abiding citizens. 

James was unmoved. When a network reported about Lyons’ letter, James referred the network to a letter she wrote to answer a similar request in September.

“Detainer requests are sent to a variety of entities within the State of New York, many of them local police department and local jails, each of which may have applicable laws and policies with respect to whether, to what degree, and under what circumstances to respond to federal detainer requests,” James wrote.

As well, “this creates a range of lawful practices that we cannot address in our capacity as the attorney general.”

Whether those “practices” are “lawful” is open to question. Refusing to help enforce federal immigration laws is itself a violation of federal law, as The New American has previously reported.

Bondi Letter

In August, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi wrote to multiple sanctuary jurisdictions that myriad federal laws can be used to prosecute mulish state and local officials.

“Individuals operating under the color of law, using their official position to obstruct federal immigration enforcement efforts and facilitating or inducing illegal immigration may be subject to criminal charges,” Bondi wrote. Those charged are subject to prosecution for trespassing the following statutes:

Despite promises to arrest sanctuary officials, not only from Bondi but also Border Czar Tom Homan, the Trump administration has yet to charge a state or local sanctuary official under any of the statutes in Bondi’s letter.

Even the judge in New Mexico and his wife who harbored an illegal-alien gang member were not charged with harboring or concealing a person from arrest. Instead, on January 20, the pair go to trial on January 20 for evidence tampering.

Worst of the Worst

DHS released a list of the cultural enrichers that authorities in New York released after an arrest despite a detainer, which forced ICE to hunt and arrest them:

• Steven Daniel Henriquez Galicia — attempted murder, arrested September 20 in the Bronx;
• Anderson Smith Satuye-Martinez — Crips gang member with an assault charge, arrested on September 11 in the Bronx;
• Jose David Hernandez-Hernandez — rape, strangulation, and assault, arrested on October 6 in the Bronx;
• Huseyin Aslan — rape and and he was convicted for aggravated, arrested July 22;
• Aurellano Garcia Fiorentino — assault and endangering a child, arrested on October 25, deported to Mexico;

• Selman Cevik — first-degree menacing and harassment, a known or suspected terrorist, arrested on September 13;
• Alexander Moreno Montoya — assault on a cop, cocaine and weapon possession, deported in July;
• Diego Fernando Huischa — assault, robbery, gang member, deported on July 1. 
• Sebastian Jaramillo-Balanta — assault, grand larceny, stolen property, released last year, arrested and awaiting deportation;
• Jesus Romero-Hernandez — assault with machete, previously deported seven times, deported again on November 5.
• Manuel Rigoberto Tacuri Quishpi — previously deported in 2024, three drunk driving convictions, arrested for another DUI, arrested at residence; and,
• Vyacheslav Danilovich Kim — rape, disseminating indecent material to a minor, patronizing a prostitute less than 15 years old, on the loose since 2013, arrested on September 13, 2024 and deported.

As for illegal-alien criminals planning to enter the United States, after an Afghan Biden “migrant“ was arrested for the murder of a National Guardsman in Washington, D.C., and the shooting of another, President Trump vowed to stop immigration from the Third World.

“I just met with the President,” DHS Secretary Kristi Noem wrote on X yesterday:

I am recommending a full travel ban on every damn country that’s been flooding our nation with killers, leeches, and entitlement junkies. Our forefathers built this nation on blood, sweat, and the unyielding love of freedom — not for foreign invaders to slaughter our heroes, suck dry our hard-earned tax dollars, or snatch the benefits owed to AMERICANS.

WE DON’T WANT THEM. NOT ONE.