NYC official violated ‘sanctuary city’ rules by ratting out illegal immigrants to feds: report

A recent investigative report has revealed that the City Department of Correction breached New York City’s contentious “sanctuary city” regulations by permitting a departmental investigator to inform federal authorities about illegal immigrant inmates.

The report from the Department of Investigation disclosed that the Department of Correction mishandled the situation by allowing an unidentified staff member to alert U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) regarding the release of undocumented immigrants, enabling federal agents to apprehend them for deportation, as stated in a Department of Investigation report published Thursday.

This action—described by officials as “unwitting”—was a direct violation of the city statute that prohibits cooperation with ICE on civil deportation matters.

“New York City law and DOC policy prohibit the utilization of city resources for facilitating the enforcement of federal immigration law, which includes any dissemination of information to our federal enforcement partners for such purposes,” stated DOI Commissioner Jocelyn Strauber.

“The DOC acknowledged that, in at least two instances, a DOC investigator inadvertently contravened the law and DOC protocol, and that the department failed to provide adequate guidance and training,” added Strauber.

The investigation report indicated that the officer disclosed sensitive information regarding inmate release schedules to federal immigration authorities, which the report attributed to DOC’s insufficient training on information sharing with federal entities.

According to the detailed 68-page report, the correctional investigator assigned to a joint federal task force first informed federal officers in November about Pedro Mujica Villa Nueva, an undocumented immigrant charged with assault and grand larceny in Queens, who was in custody at Rikers Island.

In December, this investigator supplied Homeland Security Investigations with a screenshot of Villa Nueva’s correctional report that included his photo, court details, and additional pertinent information, as per the findings.

The report specified that on February 5, the investigator aided federal agents in apprehending Cristian Concepcion, an undocumented immigrant facing third-degree assault charges and nearing his release.

The findings did not suggest any disciplinary action against the investigator or the DOC; instead, they proposed several corrective measures.

In response to the report, DOC officials indicated agreement with the DOI’s recommendations and noted that many measures are already in motion, including enhancing awareness of sanctuary city laws among correction staff and establishing protocols for interacting with federal immigration bodies.

“The department has proactively taken concrete steps to address this recommendation,” DOC officials stated in relation to the proposed additional training.

“We will continue to seek opportunities to train our personnel, including integrating these topics into both our recruitment and promotion training programs.”

In a statement issued Thursday, City Hall officials mentioned that the correction employee involved has received further training.

“As Mayor [Eric] Adams has consistently affirmed, New York City will not engage in civil immigration enforcement, as dictated by local law,” the statement emphasized.

“To clarify, no personnel within the DOC or the New York City government—other than the staff member in question—were involved in or aware of the dissemination of sensitive information to federal authorities.”