Todd Lyons (Credit: public domain)
New York’s radical sanctuary policies have reached a catastrophic breaking point.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Director Todd Lyons has issued an explosive letter to New York Attorney General Letitia James, demanding immediate action after state and local officials quietly released nearly 7,000 criminal illegal aliens, including rapists, killers, gang members, and repeat violent offenders, without honoring ICE detainers and without a single notification to federal authorities.
Since January 20, New York has released 6,947 criminal illegal aliens back onto the streets. These offenders are tied to:
29 homicides
2,509 assaults
199 burglaries
305 robberies
392 dangerous drug offenses
300 weapons offenses
207 sexual predatory offenses
Worse, another 7,113 criminal aliens remain in New York custody today, all with active ICE detainers that state officials continue to ignore.
These detainees include:
148 charged with homicide
717 charged with assault
134 charged with burglary
106 charged with robbery
235 dangerous drug offenses
152 weapons offenses
260 sexual predatory offenses
This is a full-scale public safety disaster engineered by far-left officials who are deliberately defying federal law.
ICE sent an urgent letter to Attorney General James in September demanding cooperation. She never responded.
Assistant DHS Secretary Tricia McLaughlin blasted James and New York’s political leadership for releasing predators onto American streets:
“Attorney General James and her fellow New York Sanctuary politicians are releasing murderers, terrorists, and sexual predators back into our neighborhoods and putting American lives at risk.”
“We are calling on Letitia James to stop this dangerous derangement and commit to honoring the ICE arrest detainers of the more than 7,000 criminal illegal aliens in New York’s custody. It is common sense. Criminal illegal aliens should not be released back onto our streets to terrorize more innocent Americans.”
Below are just some of the dangerous offenders New York politicians chose to unleash onto the public: (Read more: Gateway Pundit, 12/2/2025) (Archive)