You have commented 376 times on Rantburg.

Your Name
Your e-mail (optional)
Website (optional)
My Original Nic        Pic-a-Nic        Sorry. Comments have been closed on this article.
Bold Italic Underline Strike Bullet Blockquote Small Big Link Squish Foto Photo
Government Corruption
NYC's sanctuary DAs ordered prosecutors to downgrade charges to keep illegal immigrants in US, House GOP report finds
2026-10-27
[NYP] WASHINGTON — New York City’s elected Democratic district attorneys are bending over backwards to keep illegal immigrants in the US, instructing prosecutors to downgrade charges to those considered “a non-deportable offense,” according to a stunning House Judiciary Committee report shared with The Post.

The GOP-led panel found that Bronx DA Darcel Clark trains her subordinates “to conceal facts from the record of conviction” and “pursue alternative charges” that would keep non-citizens free to roam in America.

Not even cases involving child sex crimes are off-limits — with Clark’s office asking assistant DAs in a 2019 guide to “immigration-conscious plea bargaining” to “[o]ffer something that does not have the child’s age as an element of the crime.”

Meanwhile, in Queens, DA Melinda Katz has told her prosecutors to “exercise extreme caution” and “not get caught up in the label of [f]elonies, [m]isdemeanors” for illegal aliens, according to the report published five months after the committee sent requests for information on the Big Apple’s so-called “sanctuary” policies to prosecutor’s offices in all five boroughs, as well as the NYPD and Department of Correction.

Those policies have had deadly consequences, as in the case of a 92-year-old Queens woman who was murdered by a Guyanese migrant, Reeaz Khan, after a federal detainer was lodged against him in 2020.

Katz’s office later secured a 22 years to life sentence against Khan.

The report found versions of the practice in every borough. The Brooklyn DA’s office has explicitly sought an “immigration-neutral” disposition since 2017, having staff trained “to avoid disproportionate collateral consequence, such as deportation, while maintaining public safety.”

In some cases, prosecutors in Brooklyn DA Eric Gonzalez’s office are instructed to offer “a plea for a lesser offense in light of the disproportionate immigration consequences a higher level offense may result in.”

Staten Island DA Michael McMahon has a whole unit dedicated to asking ICE to delay deportations.

But Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg’s office told the committee his once-expansive immigration policy is “outdated,” while admitting prosecutors still consider citizenship status on a case-by-case basis.

In 2022, Bragg had issued a memo to prosecutors requesting that they “seek dispositions that avoid immigration consequences for all misdemeanors, and all felonies for which non-carceral outcomes are the presumptive outcome.”

“When did protecting a criminal’s immigration status become a part of a DA’s job description?” asked New York City Council Member Joann Ariola.

“Our DA’s are entrusted with upholding the law and protecting the public,” Ariola told The Post. “If that’s not their priority, then they’ve got it backwards.”
Posted by:Skidmark

#2  comments); ?>werwer
Posted by: Procopius2k   2026-10-27 06:59  

#1  comments); ?>werwer
Posted by: Skidmark   2026-10-27 00:51  

00:00