NYC police commissioner Jessica Tisch (Credit: Dean Moses)
Police in New York City are investigating whether the department violated policy by sharing a report with federal immigration authorities that included internal records of a Palestinian woman’s arrest at a protest.
The probe follows reporting by The Associated Press on the cooperation between the NYPD and President Donald Trump’s administration, which is seeking to deport Leqaa Kordia, a Palestinian resident of New Jersey, as part of its widening crackdown on noncitizens who participated in protests against the war in Gaza.
The report shared by police with the federal government included Kordia’s name, address and birthday, as well as an NYPD officer’s two-sentence summary of her arrest for protesting outside Columbia University last spring.
That charge — a summons for disorderly conduct — was dismissed and the case sealed, meaning it should not have been accessible for law enforcement purposes, according to legal experts.
“How it is that summons information was provided that is associated with a sealed arrest is what we are looking into now,” the city’s police commissioner, Jessica Tisch, said Tuesday in response to the AP’s questions. “This is under internal investigation and review.”
Kordia, a 32-year-old waitress living in Paterson, New Jersey, was detained during a March 13 check-in with immigration officials, then sent to an immigration jail in Texas, where she remains. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced her arrest the following day, citing an expired visa and her role in “pro-Hamas protests.” (Read more: MSN, 5/6/2025) (Archive)
Tom Homan: “We indicted 27 TdA members—m*rderers for hire, s*x trafficking —
— and they’re more concerned with who called ICE.”
Unreal. ICE and NYPD took down a violent crime ring, then the NYC commissioner launched an internal investigation— to punish cooperation with ICE. pic.twitter.com/x4YOQSjRgo
— Western Lensman (@WesternLensman) May 6, 2025