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ICE task force arrest at Manhattan courthouse fuels dispute over NYC sanctuary laws
By
Samantha Max
and
Ben Feuerherd
Published Feb 12, 2026
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Courtesy, state Office of Court Administration
By
Samantha Max
and
Ben Feuerherd
Published Feb 12, 2026
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The recent arrest of an immigrant at a Manhattan courthouse sparked a firestorm of criticism from President Donald Trump’s administration, which accused New York City officials of shielding a criminal by following sanctuary city laws.
The man at the center of the case is Gerardo Miguel Mora, a Mexican immigrant with a violent criminal history who federal officials say entered the United States illegally after being deported in 2014. Immigration officials asked police to make sure Mora wouldn’t be released when he appeared in state court on a shoplifting charge at the end of January, according to records of communications obtained by Gothamist. But the NYPD refused to cooperate, and a judge let him go.
Federal immigration officers and deputies from the U.S. Marshals Service — who haven’t historically assisted with immigration enforcement — were stationed at the courthouse and detained Mora on an immigration charge. But the arrest quickly stirred controversy, with local and federal officials offering conflicting accounts of what happened and why.
Mora’s case highlights the pressure local officials are facing to help with federal immigration enforcement — and the limits of local laws meant to protect immigrants and taxpayer dollars. New York City’s sanctuary laws bar local officials from aiding with immigration enforcement in most cases. Federal officials said New York should have helped in this case because Mora is facing a criminal case for re-entering the country and was convicted of a violent crime in the past. But legal experts said his case doesn’t meet the city’s criteria for working with immigration authorities.
“ It's a little bit of a cat-and-mouse game,” said Peter Markowitz, one of the architects of the city’s sanctuary laws and co-director of the Immigration Justice Clinic at Cardozo School of Law. “The federal government thinks they can find ways around New York City sanctuary laws, and New York City has repeatedly said, ‘We're not going to play that game.’”
The case is unfolding as federal immigration agents descend on communities across the country and some New Yorkers fear a similar crackdown. It also comes as Gov. Kathy Hochul advocates for new legislation to limit local law enforcement’s cooperation with federal immigration enforcement statewide. She and NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch have said they will still cooperate with federal partners in criminal cases.
Courthouse controversy
On the evening of Jan. 28, the NYPD arrested Mora after he allegedly stole about $130 worth of merchandise from the H&M in Herald Square, according to police and court records obtained by Gothamist. Shortly before 1 p.m. the next day, Mora was arraigned on a petit larceny charge in Manhattan criminal court.
A prosecutor with the Manhattan district attorney’s office told Judge Sheridan Jack-Browne that Mora had three open cases, including a recent arrest for drug possession, according to a transcript of the arraignment. She also noted that Mora had been convicted of a violent felony in the past and asked for supervised release. The judge honored the request. Mora’s case did not meet the state’s criteria to be held in jail on bail, regardless of his past conviction, according to court officials.
Mora left the courtroom and remained in the courthouse for about an hour, court officials said in a press release. As he was leaving, U.S. marshals working on the ICE task force at the courthouse identified Mora by matching his face with a picture and handcuffed him, said Brady McCarron, a spokesperson for the U.S. Marshals Service. Surveillance video provided by the court system shows Mora being escorted out of the courthouse and led into a black minivan. McCarron said Mora was arrested without incident.
“It was really cut and dry. It was pretty easy,” McCarron said about the arrest.
The Department of Homeland Security said in a press release that Mora was released “directly onto the streets of New York.” The press release said “ICE officers were forced to arrest this public safety threat at large because New York City’s sanctuary policies released him back onto the streets instead of safely transferring him into ICE custody.”
“These are the types of public safety threats New York Governor Hochul and Mayor Mamdani are releasing from their jails onto the streets to perpetrate more crimes and create more victims,” Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in the press release.
Federal officials said they had a criminal warrant to arrest Mora and that local law enforcement should have helped them. But court staff and police said they followed proper protocols that day.
New York State court officials said in a press release that the judge presiding over Mora’s arraignment never saw the warrant, and a transcript of Mora’s arraignment shows prosecutors did not mention one or ask the judge to keep him in custody. NYPD employees assigned to the courthouse were aware of the federal warrant, according to records of communications obtained by Gothamist. But a department lawyer instructed the employees not to honor the warrant, so they did not detain Mora, the records show. An NYPD spokesperson said the case is an example of the department following sanctuary city laws. The Manhattan district attorney’s office declined to comment.
Convicted, deported, then back on immigration enforcement’s radar
On Jan. 29 – the day after his state courthouse arrest – Mora appeared in federal court for his criminal immigration case. His lawyer, Assistant Federal Defender Nora Stephens, testified in court that Mora has lived in New York City for about 15 years and moved here to work as a cook and earn money for his family, according to a recording of the proceedings.
In 2011, Mora was arrested for violently assaulting a stranger, Assistant U.S. Attorney Dana McCann said in court. She said Mora followed a 20-year-old woman into her apartment building, pushed her against a wall, forcibly kissed her, groped her and then held his hands around her neck as he attempted to rape her. When the woman tried to call for help, McCann said, Mora took her cellphone and threw it. The attack continued until a neighbor heard the woman screaming, the prosecutor said.
Mora pleaded guilty to second-degree burglary as a sexually motivated felony in December 2011 and was sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison, according to a criminal immigration complaint filed against him last March. He was deported in September 2014, the complaint states.
At some point between then and April 2023, Mora re-entered the country. Since then, he has been arrested on several charges, including false personation, crack possession and larceny, according to court records. Mora was also the victim of an attack in 2023, Stephens said in court. He suffered a brain bleed and had to have surgery, the defense attorney testified, adding that Mora now collects recycling to earn money and has been living in a homeless shelter for about a year.
McCann urged Magistrate Judge Henry Ricardo to hold Mora in jail while his immigration case is pending, according to the recording of the court appearance. She said federal agents had spent the last year searching for him, at times visiting homeless shelters and checking shelter registries, without success.
“The government is concerned about the circumstances of the defendant’s prior conviction,” McCann said in court. “I think that alone speaks to the danger he presents to the community.”
Ricardo found that Mora was likely to flee and ordered that he be held in jail. Detention records show he is being detained at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn.
‘Not our policy’
Markowitz, the law professor, told Gothamist that the NYPD officers likely did not hold Mora for federal immigration authorities for a variety of reasons.
While a criminal warrant gives federal officers the authority to arrest someone, it does not require the city to hold somebody in custody for the federal government, Markowitz said. New York’s sanctuary laws also bar city agencies from devoting resources to these types of arrests if the only federal charge someone faces is illegal entry or re-entry into the United States, he added.
The laws were designed that way so the federal government could not use those crimes to get around the city’s sanctuary protections, Markowitz said. The policies are meant to encourage immigrants to feel comfortable seeking help from police, he said.
“When any member of our community is afraid to go to the NYPD, that means every member of our community is less safe,” he said. “We need witnesses and victims of crimes to feel safe, regardless of their immigration status, contacting the NYPD."
Mora’s prior felony conviction would also not require the NYPD to detain him for ICE, according to Molly Biklen, legal director of the New York Civil Liberties Union.
Under the sanctuary city laws, the city can cooperate in immigration enforcement if the person ICE is seeking has been convicted of a violent or serious crime. But if five years has elapsed since their conviction — not including time spent in prison — the city is not supposed to detain them for immigration authorities, Biklen said.
The circumstances of Mora’s arrest also show how federal law enforcement has shifted resources to immigration enforcement.
McCarron, the spokesperson for the U.S. Marshals Service, said marshals deputies were at the courthouse that day to assist on a task force led by ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations division.
The Marshals Service traditionally focuses on duties such as securing federal courthouses, tracking down fugitives and witness protection. But they were granted immigration powers at the start of Trump’s second term, and deputies are now serving on task forces led by ICE.
“It is not our policy to normally go after somebody whose only warrant is a re-entry warrant,” he said.
McCarron added that in normal circumstances, deputies work closely with local partners. If they were going to make an arrest at a state courthouse, he said, deputies would normally notify and work with local agencies.
Tagged
immigration
new york city
new york state
public safety
Samantha Max
Samantha reports on whether New Yorkers feel safe and whether the institutions that are supposed to protect them are working. Before coming to WNYC/Gothamist, she spent three years covering the criminal justice system in Tennessee for Nashville Public Radio. Her reporting on Nashville's police department received multiple awards, including the Daniel Schorr Journalism Prize. Samantha was also part of the inaugural class of Report for America, a service journalism program that sends up-and-coming reporters to local newsrooms across the country. She is a Northwestern University grad, a Baltimore native and fluent in Spanish. Got a tip? Email [email protected] or Signal: samanthamaxwnyc.93.
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Ben Feuerherd
Ben Feuerherd covers public safety and policing for WNYC and Gothamist. He previously covered federal courts for The New York Post and The Messenger. His work has also appeared in POLITICO, the Daily Beast and NBC New York. Got a tip? Email [email protected].
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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