The White House on Saturday accused New York City of endangering residents through its sanctuary-city policies, pointing to a series of violent crimes allegedly committed by migrants who had previously been arrested and released by the NYPD.
“Radical Democrat politicians must stop releasing criminal illegal aliens from jails into our communities,” said White House spokeswoman Lauren Bis. “These reckless policies have consequences and far too often they are the death of innocent Americans. Extreme Democrats must stop putting criminal illegal aliens above American citizens.”
The statement came as the administration defended ICE agents who shot Oscar Belgal, 28, in the Bronx on Thursday. According to sources and court records, Belgal, a Dominican national believed to have entered the U.S. illegally around 2022, had a lengthy criminal history despite remaining free under the city’s bail and sanctuary rules. He robbed someone at gunpoint in Fordham Heights in 2023 and was convicted in 2025. Within months, he was allegedly caught selling drugs and is reportedly tied to a violent street gang.
White House border czar Tom Homan defended the agents who fired on Belgal’s vehicle, which had his 5-year-old son inside, during an appearance on Fox News Saturday.
“They performed exactly as they were trained. This man tried to run an officer over. He feared for his life, so he took action,” Homan said. “Many of these instances could be avoided if they’d simply give us access to the bad guy in the safety and security of the jail rather than release him into the community.”
Other cases cited
Belgal’s case is one of several the administration has pointed to in recent days. D’Angelo Caraballo and Sneider Mejia Bautista, both in the country illegally, are accused of stabbing off-duty NYPD Det. Jose Mercedes seven times last week after he resisted an attempted robbery of his gold chain. Both men had been previously arrested on separate charges and released.
Cristian Aybar-Berroa, 22, and Miguel Francisco Mora Nunez, 21, are accused of shooting an off-duty Customs and Border Protection agent during a moped robbery in Fort Washington Park in Manhattan in July. Both had been arrested by the NYPD and released. Aybar-Berroa, who entered the country illegally in 2022, was arrested by the NYPD eight times after a federal immigration judge ordered his deportation in 2023, and was released each time. Mora Nunez had multiple prior New York arrests, including two in August 2024 after allegedly assaulting a pregnant woman, and was wanted on weapons and kidnapping charges in Massachusetts.
In March, 83-year-old Air Force veteran Richard Williams died from a brain bleed after being pushed onto the F/Q subway tracks in Manhattan. Police said the suspect, Bairon Posada-Hernandez, a Honduran national who had been deported four times, was a “serial criminal” with at least 15 prior charges, including simple assault, domestic violence and obstruction of justice.
The administration also referenced the 2024 killing of nursing student Laken Riley, who was murdered while jogging at the University of Georgia. The suspect, José Antonio Ibarra, a member of the Tren de Aragua gang, had been arrested and released by the NYPD the year before for driving a scooter with his 2-year-old child unhelmeted on the back. He was also wanted on an outstanding arrest warrant in Georgia at the time.
Experts weigh in
Michael Alcazar, a retired NYPD detective and adjunct professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, said sanctuary policies can create safety risks.
“Several states have challenged federal immigration enforcement in ways that, in my view, create unnecessary risks for civilians,” Alcazar said. “By prohibiting local police from assisting ICE during operations, they limit the ability to maintain a safe and controlled environment.”
The cases have become central to the broader national debate over sanctuary-city policies, with federal officials arguing that local refusal to cooperate with immigration enforcement allows dangerous suspects to remain at large in communities across the country.
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