The Department of Homeland Security accused New York Gov. Kathy Hochul of putting Americans at risk through sanctuary policies in an October 12 release highlighting killings and attacks involving illegal aliens.
DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin urged Hochul and other officials to change those policies, citing six cases spanning New York, Georgia and Indiana.
“Governor Hochul’s sanctuary policies have been a disaster for New York and the rest of the country,” Mullin said in the release.
DHS argued that limits on immigration enforcement allowed people with prior arrests to remain in communities. Its release does not establish that an ignored Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainer preceded every attack.
Cases Cited by DHS
The agency cited Laken Riley, the 22-year-old nursing student whom illegal alien Jose Antonio Ibarra killed in Georgia in February 2024. DHS said New York police previously arrested and released Ibarra in August 2023.
As The Dallas Express previously reported, Ibarra received a life sentence without parole on November 20, 2024.
DHS also cited Richard Williams, an 83-year-old veteran who died after a March 8, 2026, subway attack. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg Jr. announced a murder indictment against illegal alien Bairon Hernandez on March 30. Prosecutors alleged Hernandez pushed Williams and another man onto the tracks; Williams died March 17.
The DHS release identifies the suspect as Bairon Posada-Hernandez and says immigration authorities previously deported him four times. The indictment contains allegations, not a conviction.
The agency also identified illegal alien Dangelo Rafael Jean Caraballo and illegal alien Sneider Mejia Bautista as suspects in an October 2 stabbing of an off-duty NYPD detective. DHS said police had previously arrested and released both men before ICE could lodge detainers.
Other cases in the release included a July 19, 2025, shooting of an off-duty Customs and Border Protection officer; an alleged June 6, 2026, sexual assault of a 16-year-old girl in Huntington; and a March 6, 2026, collision in which a pedestrian was struck and critically injured by a truck in Indianapolis, Indiana. DHS said the truck driver held a New York commercial driver’s license.
Hochul’s Policy Position
Hochul’s office announced immigration restrictions on May 28, describing them as protections for constitutional rights for New Yorkers and measures to keep local police focused on local crimes.
The governor’s office said the package prohibited agreements that deputize state and local personnel for federal civil immigration enforcement. Hochul maintained that her policies protect public safety and do not provide sanctuary for criminals.
That statement predates the October 12 DHS release and does not constitute a response to its specific allegations.
