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Immigration

House Republican report accuses NYC prosecutors of helping noncitizens avoid deportation

Staten Island's district attorney's office calls the report false and political, while Manhattan's office says its 2022 policy on immigration consequences is outdated.

5 news outlets reported this
Liberal1 outletlittle coverageCenter2 outletslittle coverageConservative2 outlets
Published 2 min read
Overview

According to Fox News, a report from the Republican-led House Judiciary Committee, chaired by Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, says prosecutors in all five New York City boroughs gave noncitizen defendants preferential treatment to help them avoid . The 22-page report alleges the Bronx office, led by Darcel Clark, trains staff to omit details such as gun involvement from conviction records. It cites a 2022 memo from Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and a May 2026 email from a Queens prosecutor describing a deal as "immigration safe."

Bragg's office called its policy outdated and said it has since given prosecutors discretion. The Staten Island office called the report "flagrantly false and patently political." A spokesperson for Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said her office charges any illegal firearm case at the highest level the law allows.

The report also says the NYPD declined 20,255 federal immigration detainers between July 2018 and June 2026. Fox reports that four other district attorney offices and the mayor's office had not immediately responded, and that the committee will keep investigating .

Three sides of the story

Liberal1 outlet

Outlets on the left gave this story little coverage.

Center2 outlets

Outlets in the center gave this story little coverage.

Conservative2 outlets

Fox News leads with Judiciary Committee's findings and lays out the allegations in detail: Bronx training on "Immigration-Conscious Plea Bargaining," the Queens email, the Manhattan memo and pleas to "attempted reckless assault." One of its headlines says the report "accuses" city prosecutors of downgrading charges. Fox adds state data on those assault pleas and the report's figures on declined detainers, and links the findings to House Republicans' push on sanctuary legislation.

In its own analysis, Fox says almost half the detainers came in the latest year and points to more aggressive enforcement under the second Trump administration. It includes responses from Bragg's office, Staten Island's office and Katz's spokesperson. A second Fox story covers a press conference where Letitia James, Katz and Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez were questioned, noting that Katz shrugged and said "Our answer couldn't help it."

All sources: 7 articles from 5 outlets

Liberal (1)

Center (3)

Conservative (3)

Related
Deportation

Forced removal from the US of a person with no legal right to stay. An immigration court usually orders it, but some people are removed faster, without a hearing.

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District attorney and US attorney

A district attorney is the local prosecutor, usually elected, who brings charges under state law. A US attorney is the federal prosecutor for a district, appointed by the president, who brings federal charges.

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Sanctuary city

A city or state that limits how much its police and jails help federal immigration agents, for example by not holding people for ICE without a judge's warrant. There is no legal definition, and policies differ.

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House of Representatives

The lower chamber of Congress: 435 members elected every two years, with more seats for bigger states. It is the chamber that can impeach officials.

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ICE

Immigration and Customs Enforcement: the federal agency that arrests, detains and deports people who are in the US without legal status.

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Attorney General

The head of the Justice Department and the government's chief lawyer. Each state has its own attorney general too.

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