The Department of Homeland Security and several House Republicans pushed back against Rep. Daniel Goldman, D-N.Y., after he asserted that sanctuary jurisdictions generally transfer removable illegal immigrants to federal custody after they have been convicted and completed their sentences.
Goldman, whose district includes Lower Manhattan and parts of Brooklyn, made the remarks during a House committee markup of legislation that would codify several of President Donald Trump’s border security policies.
Responding to Reps. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., and Tom McClintock, R-Calif., Goldman challenged Republicans to identify a case in which a sanctuary jurisdiction refused to transfer a removable immigrant following a criminal conviction, writes Fox News.
“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 said.
He continued, “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.”
Rep Dan Goldman (D-NY) insisted opponents of sanctuary cities can’t provide one example of such cities not turning over illegal immigrants convicted of crimes.
DHS found 6,947 such cases only in NYC since Jan of this year, inc 29 convicted of homicides.https://t.co/jwFlgNYPM4 pic.twitter.com/4hvk3kuhGq
— AG (@AGHamilton29) July 24, 2026
Rep. Brad Knott, R-N.C., a former prosecutor, disputed Goldman’s description of sanctuary policies, noting that cooperation with federal immigration authorities varies among jurisdictions.
“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.
Knott pointed to recent cases in Fairfax County, Virginia, as evidence that some jurisdictions decline to honor federal immigration detainers even after criminal convictions.
DHS also rejected Goldman’s characterization, citing thousands of detainers that the agency said New York authorities have declined to honor.
According to figures provided by the department, New York jurisdictions have released 6,947 convicted illegal immigrants sought by Immigration and Customs Enforcement since January. Assistant DHS Secretary Lauren Bis said their offenses “include 29 homicides, 2,509 assaults, 199 burglaries, 305 robberies, 392 dangerous drug offenses, 300 weapons offenses and 207 sexual predatory offenses.”
Bis said approximately 7,000 illegal immigrants in New York had active ICE detainers 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.
DHS also identified at least a dozen individual cases that it said contradicted Goldman’s claim.
In one case, a Dominican national arrested on an attempted murder charge was released in the Bronx despite an ICE detainer. Federal immigration officers later located and arrested him in September.
Another case involved an alleged Crips gang member with a previous assault conviction who was arrested in August on a criminal weapons possession charge. New York authorities released him despite an ICE detainer request, according to DHS.
The department also cited the case of Turkish national Selman Cevik, who was listed on the Known or Suspected Terrorist watchlist. ICE issued a detainer after Cevik was arrested on a first-degree menacing charge, but New York City authorities released him before federal officers subsequently located him.
Goldman recently lost his seat to Brad Lander, a DSA backed challenger, for not being leftwing enough.
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