NYC Sanctuary Laws Survive As Judge Rules Feds Can’t Force City To Help ICE

Authored by Aldgra Fredly via The Epoch Times,

A federal judge on Oct. 15 dismissed the federal government’s lawsuit challenging New York City’s sanctuary policy, saying that states are not obligated to participate in federal immigration enforcement.

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) sued New York City in July 2025, alleging that its sanctuary policy was unconstitutional and impeded the government’s ability to enforce federal immigration laws.

U.S. District Judge Ramon Reyes ruled that the administration lacked legal standing to bring the case, finding that federal law does not require states to assist with federal immigration enforcement.

“The United States’ preemption arguments amount to nothing more than a backdoor around the Tenth Amendment and rest on a false distinction between compelling local governments’ participation in federal immigration enforcement and prohibiting local governments from dictating how their personnel and other resources may be utilized towards federal immigration enforcement,” the judge said.

Reyes said that striking down the challenged provisions would restrict New York City’s ability to control its agencies and personnel from engaging in federal immigration enforcement, including by expending city resources to detain people and implement inter-agency information sharing.

“All potentially in violation of state law,” the judge said.

“If states cannot remain free to control their agencies and employees to resist federal immigration enforcement, which is within states’ constitutional prerogatives, the Tenth Amendment anticommandeering doctrine means nothing.“

In a statement, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani hailed the judge’s decision as “a victory for New Yorkers” and pledged to uphold the city’s sanctuary laws.

“Our local laws make New York City safer. They allow us to focus our resources on protecting and serving our communities and ensuring that every New Yorker can turn to their city government without fear that asking for help will make them a target for deportation,” he said.

The Epoch Times reached out to the DOJ for comment but did not receive a response by publication time.

The DOJ argued in its lawsuit that the city’s sanctuary laws made it difficult for federal authorities to enforce immigration laws by preventing local officials from sharing immigrants’ information such as release dates, court appearance dates, and custodial status.

“The challenged provisions also impair federal detention of removable aliens, including dangerous criminals, contrary to federal law,” the complaint reads.

The suit cited the July 2025 case of an off-duty Customs and Border Protection officer who was shot by two illegal immigrants while he sat in Fort Washington Park.

The DOJ alleged that one of the immigrants had been arrested in April 2024 for felony grand larceny and petit larceny but was released after the New York City Department of Correction ignored a detainer.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said on Oct. 9 that New York City had failed to honor 14,916 immigration detainers issued by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) between Jan. 20, 2025, and Sept. 14, 2026.

The detainers were linked to 47,750 criminal charges and convictions, including homicides, sexual assaults, drug offenses, kidnapping, weapons offenses, and assaults, the department said.

The DHS statement was issued in the context of the recent shooting of Oscar Bengal, a criminal illegal immigrant in New York.

Bengal, from the Dominican Republic, was shot on Oct. 8 while federal immigration agents were attempting to arrest him in the Bronx.

Bengal was sent to a local hospital for treatment and subsequently placed in detention.

Naveen Athrappully contributed to this report.