New York Skipped 16,070 ICE Holds, Then Answered With 2,000
They refused the hold, then hid behind a smaller number.
Summary
- On Oct. 12, 2026, the New York Post reported Homeland Security figures: since President Trump returned to office, municipalities in New York refused ICE detainer requests 16,070 times.
- DHS told the Post those refusals were tied to 52,503 criminal charges or convictions, including 131 homicides, 132 kidnappings, 1,017 sexual offenses, 9,502 assaults, and 4,324 dangerous-drug counts.
- On Oct. 9, DHS's own release already put an earlier cut at 14,916 detainers left unhonored in New York from Jan. 20, 2025 through Sept. 14, 2026, tied to 47,750 charges. The Monday figure is the later count, not a second agency.
- A detainer asks local police to hold someone up to 48 hours so federal officers can take custody. The governor's office told the Post the state is not a sanctuary for violent criminals, that it notifies federal immigration enforcement when a non-citizen finishes a state prison sentence, and that about 2,000 people in state facilities were turned over. Spokeswoman Alexia Nizhny called the DHS assertion a mischaracterization.
Commentary
ICE asked for a chair and 48 hours. Homeland Security says New York municipalities refused that 16,070 times, on cases carrying 52,503 charges, 131 of them homicides and 1,017 sex offenses.
The governor's office did not answer 16,070. It answered about 2,000, people handed over when a state prison sentence ends, and called the federal count a mischaracterization. End of a prison term is not a detainer. Two thousand does not spend the other refusals. The hold was the request. New York skipped it.
Comments
48 hours. That was the whole ask. They refused it 16,070 times and then waved 2,000 at us.
131 homicides on the federal list. Her office answered with a prison-exit phone call.
End of a state sentence is not a detainer. Stop swapping the doors.
Two thousand handed over does not spend the rest of the 16,070 refusals.
A 48-hour hold is a chair in booking. New York would not spare the chair.
1,017 sex offenses. Do not call that list a mischaracterization and walk off.
