The Trump administration will send additional immigration agents to New York, blaming the city’s sanctuary policies for a shooting by an undocumented migrant that left an off-duty federal customs officer seriously wounded.
The announcement, delivered by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem from One World Trade Center on Monday, marked an escalation in the administration’s efforts to assert federal control in Democratic-led cities that limit cooperation with immigration authorities.
“We have a city like New York City that continues to not honor detainers, and to release individuals that are committing crimes on our streets,” Noem said.
The shooting occurred Saturday night near the George Washington Bridge, where an off-duty US Customs and Border Protection officer was sitting with a friend along the Hudson River. Police said that two men approached on a scooter and one opened fire. The officer returned fire but was shot in the face and arm. A suspect, 21-year-old Miguel Mora, was also wounded and taken to a hospital.
Noem said Mora, a Dominican national, entered the US illegally in 2023 and was under a deportation order issued in November. He had been arrested four times on charges including assault, grand larceny and armed robbery, and was wanted in cases in New York and Massachusetts.
“This didn’t have to happen. It was because of sanctuary city policies and failed leadership,” Noem said.
Jay Clayton, the US attorney for the Southern District of New York, said Mora would be charged in Manhattan federal court. A second suspect was arrested on Monday, while the federal officer remains hospitalized and is expected to recover.
New York’s “sanctuary” laws, passed in 2014 and 2017, bar city agencies including police from carrying out most civil deportation actions unless the individual has been convicted of one or more of 170 serious crimes — including homicide, rape and robbery — within the past five years.
It’s one of several major US cities — along with Los Angeles, Chicago and others — that have adopted so-called sanctuary policies restricting local law enforcement from assisting in most federal immigration actions. The Trump administration has vowed to crack down on those jurisdictions — even sending the California National Guard and Marines into LA — arguing that such policies endanger public safety and undermine federal law.
Mayor Eric Adams defended the city’s approach Sunday, saying it follows state law. “Here in New York City, our laws are clear on what we can do and what we can’t do,” Adams said. “We will always coordinate with our partners going after dangerous individuals.”
The Trump administration sees the matter differently. Tom Homan, the administration’s border czar, said the city’s refusal to let federal officers to make jail-based arrests has forced US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to conduct higher-risk operations in neighborhoods.