DHS demands Hochul, Mamdani to honor ICE retainer for illegal migrant convicted of raping corpse on subway
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) blasted New York Gov.Kathy Hochul and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani over “sanctuary” policies, demanding the two honor an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainer for an illegal migrant convicted of raping a corpse.Felix Jeronimo-Rojas, 44, was sentenced to five years in prison on Wednesday for sexually assaulting and raiding the pockets of 37-year-old Jorge Gonzalez while he sat dead on the R train near Lower Manhattan’s Whitehall Street station, according to the New York Post.The Mexican national pled guilty to the charges.“This sicko robbed and raped the corpse of a dead man on a New York City subway,” said Lauren Bis, acting assistant secretary for public affairs at the DHS.
“ICE lodged a detainer asking Gov.Kathy Hochul and New York sanctuary politicians to commit to not releasing this criminal illegal alien after his prison sentence.
We need cooperation from sanctuary politicians to ensure depraved criminals like this are not released into our communities.”On April 8, 2025, Gonzalez boarded the train at around 7:52 p.m., according to the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.Authorities said he stayed in the same spot for several hours before losing consciousness at around 10:48 p.m.
Jeronimo-Rojas got on the train several minutes later and at 11:45 p.m., he began violating Gonzalez while he was unresponsive, prosecutors said.DHS lodged an immigration detainer for Jeronimo-Rojas on April 30, 2025, the agency exclusively told Fox News Digital.The department is continuing to demand that this detainer is honored by New York state and city officials at the conclusion of his sentence.Fox News Digital reached out to the offices of Hochul and Mamdani for additional comment.Hochul oversees state laws that limit cooperation with federal immigration enforcement, while Mamdani is responsible for how city agencies, including the New York Police Department and the Department of Correction, implement the ...