A New York City congressman drew swift pushback from Republicans and the Department of Homeland Security after claiming sanctuary jurisdictions turn over removable criminal illegal immigrants to federal authorities upon completion of their sentences.
Rep. Daniel Goldman, a Democrat representing Lower Manhattan and Downtown Brooklyn, was responding to remarks about the immigration system from Reps. Darrell Issa and Tom McClintock, R-Calif., during a markup of a bill that would enshrine President Donald Trump’s border security orders into law.
“Sanctuary cities… I ask you please cite one case where there was a criminal conviction, the defendant served his time and was convicted of a removable offense under the [Immigration & Nationality Act of 1952] and he was not turned over by the city or the state to the Department of Homeland Security,” Goldman addressed his Republican colleagues during the markup.
“You have not and are unable to provide one, is my guess. Maybe you’ll have one or two, but the policy of sanctuary cities and sanctuary states is that if you are removable after you’re convicted after you complete your sentence, you are turned over to the Department of Homeland Security.”
The claim was met with immediate skepticism after Goldman finished speaking, as Rep. Brad Knott, R-N.C., noted he prosecuted such cases in the Tar Heel State.
“Sanctuary jurisdictions do have a very wide paradigm in how they’re operated. There’s some sanctuary leaning jurisdictions in my home state of North Carolina: We had to pass a law at the state legislature to override the discretion,” Knott said, adding that recent cases in Fairfax County, Virginia, support his assertion that sanctuary jurisdictions do not cooperate after an illegal immigrant is convicted.
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DHS also rebuked Goldman’s claim of common cooperation, citing thousands of cases in the lawmaker’s home state to make their point.
Since January, New York’s failure to honor ICE detainers resulted in the release of 6,947 criminally convicted illegal immigrants, according to statistics DHS shared with Fox News Digital.
“The crimes of these aliens include 29 homicides, 2,509 assaults, 199 burglaries, 305 robberies, 392 dangerous drugs offenses, 300 weapons offenses, and 207 sexual predatory offenses,” said Assistant DHS Secretary Lauren Bis, who added there were around 7,000 illegal immigrants in the state with active detainer requests as of last winter.
“Sanctuary politicians must stop putting politics above public safety. This type of insanity leads to more crimes and more innocent victims,” Bis said.
Fox News Digital reached out to Goldman for comment.
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During his remarks, Goldman also criticized Issa’s invocation of Ellis Island’s policies toward European immigrants at the turn of the century.
“First of all, my grandmother also came through Ellis Island. There was no immigration law at that time. And, certainly there was no NCIS where you could look at a database and figure out whether someone has a criminal record from their own country,” said Goldman, whose district includes the New York State portion of the now-defunct facility.
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He said tuberculosis patients were housed and rehabilitated to complete their immigration proceedings and that 98% of those who came through Ellis were allowed into the U.S.
“So I don’t think you wanna go back to the quote ‘orderly process’ unquote that you said Ellis Island is,” he said.
DHS cited at least 12 cases it said contradicted Goldman’s claim, including several involving illegal immigrants arrested for violent crimes who New York authorities released despite ICE detainer requests.
Among them was a Dominican national arrested for attempted murder who was released in the Bronx before ICE later apprehended him last September.
DHS also cited a Crips gang member with a prior assault conviction who was arrested last August on a criminal weapons possession charge and released despite a detainer request.
The agency also pointed to Turkish national Selman Cevik, who was on the Known or Suspected Terrorist (KST) list and became the subject of an ICE detainer after his arrest on a first-degree menacing charge. New York City authorities released him before ICE later tracked him down, DHS said.
