An NYPD officer violated New York sanctuary metropolis legal guidelines limiting the division’s help to federal immigration companies by accepting a request from the U.S. Division of Homeland Safety to flag people going through deportation, a brand new Division of Investigation (DOI) report fees.
The officer set the alerts, however in the end saved that data inside the NYPD and didn’t share it with Homeland Safety, in response to the report. However the officer was faraway from a federal process drive as a result of he didn’t notify his supervisor of the request to supply data to the feds.
Within the report, launched Wednesday, DOI revealed it checked out 5 interactions between the NYPD and companies, together with Homeland Safety and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, that raised questions on whether or not the division had damaged New York Metropolis legal guidelines that prohibit the NYPD from collaborating in civil immigration enforcement with restricted exceptions.
Whereas in the end the report discovered just one one occasion of a sanctuary metropolis violation, it revealed new particulars about some incidents that THE CITY had beforehand reported on, highlighting the grey areas within the regulation — significantly in instances the place NYPD officers work carefully alongside federal companies which have been deputized to give attention to immigration enforcement beneath President Donald Trump.
The investigative company decided that in 4 of the incidents, the division didn’t break the principles, however that in all of the incidents the NYPD “doesn’t totally adjust to documentation and reporting necessities” concerning interactions with their federal counterparts.
Native sanctuary legal guidelines prohibit metropolis authorities cooperation on immigration enforcement, with some specified exceptions. The DOI’s probe was prompted by a June request from the Metropolis Council, which cited THE CITY’s reporting on incidents by which the NYPD interacted with federal authorities.
DOI made seven suggestions advising NYPD to tighten up its reporting and documentation protocols. The NYPD accepted all seven.
“Because the report demonstrates, the NYPD has labored diligently to adjust to New York’s sanctuary metropolis legal guidelines,” mentioned Brad Weekes, an NYPD spokesperson. “We recognize DOI’s complete report and have accepted all their suggestions to make our insurance policies even stronger.”
The DOI’s probe was prompted by a request from the Metropolis Council in June. In a joint assertion from Councilmember Gale Brewer (D-Manhattan) and Council Speaker Adrienne Adams (D-Queens), the 2 mentioned the investigation “revealed gaps in NYPD’s compliance with our metropolis’s legal guidelines that have to be addressed.”
Landed in El Salvador
One of many incidents probed by the DOI concerned Merwil Gutiérrez Flores, a 19-year-old asylum-seeker who lived within the Bronx, and whose dealings with regulation enforcement had been reported by THE CITY.
In February, NYPD officers who had been a part of a Protected Streets Process Drive, comprised of members of the NYPD and FBI, arrested the teenager. Whereas he was nonetheless in NYPD custody, Bronx District Lawyer Darcel Clark determined to not prosecute him on weapons fees. However as an alternative of releasing Gutiérrez Flores, the NYPD transferred him to the custody of the FBI, which inside an hour transferred him to ICE.
As soon as in ICE custody, Gutierrez Flores was among the many Venezuelans accused of gang affiliation with little proof, and largely with no prison historical past, shipped off by the administration of President Donald Trump to the infamous El Salvadoran jail Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo, or CECOT. Gutiérrez Flores, whose detention was first reported by Documented, languished there for 125 days earlier than he was launched by way of a cope with Venezuelan authorities in July.
The DOI investigation discovered that the division didn’t violate NYPD insurance policies or native legal guidelines as a result of the FBI informed the police division that federal prosecutors had been contemplating bringing fees.
Nonetheless, the report notes that “the FBI’s determination to switch Mr. Gutiérrez Flores to ICE inside an hour of his launch from NYPD custody highlights an vital consideration for the NYPD’s insurance policies — even federal companies not historically thought to implement civil immigration legal guidelines, just like the FBI, could help in civil immigration enforcement.”
On this case, the NYPD was alerted by ICE at about 7 p.m. on Feb. 25 that the company was looking for Gutiérrez Flores on a civil immigration detainer. That request was correctly denied by the NYPD, in response to DOI, as a result of it wasn’t accompanied by a required judicial warrant.
It was three hours later, round 10 p.m., that the Bronx district lawyer’s workplace formally notified the division that it will be declining to prosecute Gutiérrez Flores. The report says a lieutenant within the joint process drive subsequently communicated with a counterpart on the FBI who mentioned the company was contemplating charging him, and that by 10:06 p.m., Gutiérrez Flores was in FBI custody.
Amongst different incidents inspected by DOI was one other reported on by THE CITY, by which an NYPD doc of a sealed summons file made its approach into the ICE deportation case in opposition to a younger Palestinian lady named Leqaa Kordia, which was first reported by the Related Press.
Kordia, a resident of Patterson, N.J., had joined demonstrators outdoors Columbia College within the spring of 2024 and was arrested together with others on the street that evening, in a case that was swiftly dropped and sealed. However almost a 12 months later a file of that arrest was shared by the NYPD with federal authorities.
On the time NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch mentioned the file ought to have been sealed, however that the NYPD sharing it with federal authorities was above board, as a result of brokers with the Homeland Safety Investigations had informed the NYPD they had been investigating Kordia for cash laundering. Kordia, nonetheless, was by no means charged with something, and had solely despatched some money funds to relations in Gaza, the place dozens of her family members had been killed. Kordia has remained in ICE detention for months.
Whereas the DOI discovered town’s sanctuary legal guidelines hadn’t been violated on this case both, after this incident, the NYPD modified its insurance policies round requests from federal regulation enforcement, now sending them by way of NYPD officers assigned to federal process forces, who’ve complicated vetting procedures round requests to guarantee they don’t contact on civil immigration enforcement.
Aborted Migrant Shelter Raids
The DOI report additionally revealed new particulars about reporting within the New York Instances in June a couple of deliberate raid Tisch referred to as off on the final minute when she realized the Division of Homeland Safety meant to affix the NYPD and do a sweep for immigration violations on the Row and the Roosevelt motels in Manhattan, the place town was housing a whole lot of migrants.
The Instances reported that Deputy Mayor for Public Security, Kaz Daughtry, was concerned in planning the raid with federal brokers earlier than Tisch acquired wind of it.
Digging into the incident, the DOI interviewed a number of high-ranking NYPD officers concerning the planning of the March 10 operation, by which NYPD officers meant to make a number of arrests on the motels on prison warrants, together with one arrest by a joint NYPD and Homeland Safety Investigations process drive targeted on gun trafficking.
However at an occasion hosted by the Coast Guard on March 5, 5 days earlier than the meant operation, federal brokers informed a number of NYPD officers on the occasion they meant to ship a whole lot of officers to New York Metropolis to take part within the operation and make arrests for immigration violations.
Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny realized of their intentions however didn’t advise any superiors of the state of affairs and left for trip, in response to the report.
On the similar occasion the feds informed one other NYPD inspector assigned to the operation, who promptly flagged it for superiors. That in the end acquired the operation canned by Tisch when she realized of it, the DOI discovered.
The DOI additionally spoke to Daughtry, although it didn’t draw any conclusions about his involvement. The report nonetheless, highlighted conflicting testimony from the 2 high-ranking officers, Daughtry and Kenny.
Kenny mentioned he hadn’t warned anybody concerning the deliberate ICE involvement, whereas Daughtry informed investigators he had spoken with Kenny and informed him to report it to Tisch.
Daughtry additionally informed DOI investigators he didn’t inform ICE concerning the deliberate raid.
“It’s unclear how ICE grew to become conscious of the NYPD’s deliberate operation,” the report reads. “DOI didn’t interview any federal brokers in reference to this investigation, together with the HSI brokers who had been a part of the duty drive concerned in NYPD’s plans for the Roosevelt and Row Resort operations.”
Finally, the report discovered, no metropolis sources had been expended on immigration enforcement as a result of the joint raid was canceled and thus town’s sanctuary insurance policies weren’t violated, however the state of affairs highlighted the necessity for extra coaching associated to such a prevalence.
“It seems that the Chief of Detectives didn’t inform the Authorized Bureau or the Police Commissioner of ICE’s deliberate involvement within the operation,” the report discovered. “To be clear, the Chief of Detectives by no means dedicated Metropolis sources towards immigration enforcement; in actual fact, he knowledgeable ICE that the NYPD wouldn’t achieve this. However, the Chief of Detectives ought to have proactively raised ICE’s potential involvement within the NYPD’s operation with the Authorized Bureau.”
