Trump border czar Tom Homan on Wednesday said he will double the number of federal immigration agents in New York if Governor Kathy Hochul refuses to cooperate with the administration's crackdown, according to the New York Daily News.
Homan criticized New York City's sanctuary laws, saying if the state resists changing them, it risks seeing more immigration officers on the ground and more arrests.
“You’re not gonna stop us, New York State,” Homan said in Albany. “You gotta change the sanctuary status. If you don’t, get out of the way.”
Homan also praised New York City Mayor Eric Adams and his partnership with the administration's mission on mass deportation and said he will meet with the mayor this week, the newspaper said.
Meanwhile, federal prosecutors sent a criminal subpoena to a Manhattan hotel housing undocumented immigrants through a New York City program providing shelter to asylum seekers, according to a copy of the filing obtained by the Guardian.
The subpoena issued on Wednesday asks the hotel to provide “a list of full names of aliens currently residing” at the site as well as “any corresponding identifying information”, including dates of birth, nationality and identification numbers, the paper reported. It also asks the hotel to give evidence about “an alleged violation” of federal immigration law.
The federal subpoena, sent to the hotel by prosecutors for the Southern District of New York, also appears to seek information about New York City government officials. It asks the hotel to provide the names of “entities and/or individuals that are responsible for the funding” of the “illegal immigrant/migrant shelter programs," the paper reported.
In addition, the Department of Homeland Security on Monday launched an app that allows undocumented immigrants to indicate they are self-deporting themselves. This app replaces the former U.S. Customs and Border Protection app where immigrants used to file their asylum claims.
"The CBP Home app gives aliens the option to leave now and self-deport, so they may still have the opportunity to return legally in the future and live the American dream," Secretary Kristi Noem said in a statement. "If they don’t, we will find them, we will deport them, and they will never return.”
