The Department of Homeland Security said it lodged a detainer in a sexual assault case on Long Island, renewing a public dispute with New York officials over cooperation with federal immigration authorities
The Department of Homeland Security said Immigration and Customs Enforcement has lodged a detainer asking New York officials not to release a man arrested in Huntington and charged with sexually assaulting a teenage girl.
According to DHS, citing local reporting, the man was arrested after an assault on June 6, 2026, and now faces charges including rape, sexual abuse, and endangering the welfare of a child. The charges are allegations that have not been proven in court, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until convicted. DHS said an immigration judge issued the man a final order of removal in 1998.
In a statement, Acting Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis called on Gov. Kathy Hochul and other New York officials to hold the man for ICE rather than release him, criticizing the state’s sanctuary policies.
A Dispute Over Detainers
DHS said the case is part of a broader disagreement over New York’s handling of ICE detainers. The agency said that, as of December 1, New York jurisdictions’ failure to honor detainers had resulted in the release of nearly 7,000 people it described as criminal illegal aliens since January 20, and that thousands more in New York custody have active detainers. Those figures are DHS’s own and were not independently verified.
The disagreement reflects a wider national dispute between the federal government and so-called sanctuary jurisdictions over how far state and local authorities should cooperate with federal immigration enforcement.
