The Department of Homeland Security sharply criticized New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Gov. Kathy Hochul on Monday, saying the city and state have refused to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement on more than 16,000 occasions over the past 21 months.
In a social media post, DHS said New York has failed to honor 16,070 detainers issued by Immigration and Customs Enforcement between Jan. 20, 2025, and Oct. 8, 2026. Those detainers, according to the department, are associated with 52,503 total criminal charges and convictions.
The department escalated its rhetoric in the same post, calling out the two Democrats by name and pledging to press ahead regardless of local resistance.
“We enforce these laws with no help from Mayor Mamdani and Governor Hochul,” DHS said, adding that the Trump administration “won’t let sanctuary politicians stand in our way,” according to Breitbart News.
A rising count
The figure released Monday represents a jump from just a week earlier, when DHS reported that New York had refused 14,766 detainers. The new total is 1,304 higher than the previous count, suggesting that the dispute over local cooperation with federal immigration authorities is intensifying rather than cooling.
Detainers are requests from ICE asking local law enforcement to hold an individual for up to 48 hours beyond their scheduled release so that federal agents can take custody. Sanctuary jurisdictions — a category that includes New York City and New York State — generally decline to honor those requests, citing concerns about civil liability and the role of local police in immigration enforcement.
DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin echoed the department’s criticism, telling The New York Post this month that local officials were prioritizing policy over public safety.
“While sanctuary politicians continue to release dangerous criminals onto their streets, our brave law enforcement officers will continue to risk their lives to arrest these heinous criminals and make America safe again,” Mullin said. “Illegal aliens have no sanctuary in America.”
The secretary has been a frequent critic of sanctuary jurisdictions. In March, DHS said sanctuary states and cities across the country had refused to honor an additional 18,000 detainers. Earlier this year, ICE reported that California had released 4,500 migrants convicted of murder, sexual assault, and child sex crimes without honoring federal detainers.
A long-running political fight
The clash between the Trump administration and New York’s Democratic leadership is part of a broader and increasingly bitter national fight over immigration enforcement. Since returning to office, President Trump has made aggressive interior enforcement a centerpiece of his agenda, directing federal agencies to pressure so-called sanctuary jurisdictions into cooperating with ICE.
Mamdani, a progressive Democrat who took office as mayor in January 2025, has been a vocal defender of the city’s sanctuary policies. Hochul, who is up for reelection, has also resisted federal efforts to compel state and local law enforcement to assist with civil immigration enforcement, arguing that such cooperation would erode trust between police and immigrant communities.
Federal officials argue that the numbers speak for themselves. DHS has framed the detainers as a public safety tool aimed at removing individuals convicted of serious crimes from the country, and has repeatedly highlighted the volume of charges tied to unhonored requests.
Local officials, meanwhile, have not responded directly to Monday’s post. But New York City and state leaders have previously defended their policies as lawful and consistent with the city’s values, and have accused federal officials of overstating the public safety risk posed by individuals released from local custody.
The political stakes are high. Immigration remains one of the most polarizing issues in American politics, and the Trump administration has shown a willingness to single out Democratic-led cities and states by name. The 16,070 figure is likely to become a talking point in both the mayor’s office and the governor’s race.
For now, DHS is signaling that it intends to keep up the pressure. The department’s post closed with a promise to protect Americans “in every city and every state,” a line that has become something of a mantra for the agency under Mullin’s leadership.
Whether the escalating numbers translate into policy change in Albany or City Hall remains to be seen. What is clear is that the fight over sanctuary policies — and the detainers at the center of it — is far from over.
Source: www.breitbart.com — https://www.breitbart.com/immigration/2026/10/12/dhs-blasts-zohran-mamdani-and-ny-gov-kathy-hochul-for-protecting-16000-illegal-alien-criminals/