According to startling new data obtained by The Post, there are over 58,000 illegal migrants who have been convicted of felonies or are facing criminal charges in New York City, and nearly 670,000 nationwide.
Of the 759,218 illegal-border crossers living in the Big Apple the feds were aware of as of Nov. 17, a jaw-dropping 58,626 — 7.7% — were either previously convicted of crimes or had criminal charges pending, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency data.
And of the 58,626 migrants with rap sheets, 1,053, nearly 2%, are “suspected or known gang members,” according to the agency.
Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-Staten Island/Brooklyn) pointed blame for the stunning stats at soft-on-crime and lax border-control policies pushed by President Biden and other Democrats.
“It’s shocking that Democrats have gone so far out of their way to harbor gang members, drug traffickers and other criminals who are in our country illegally,” said Malliotakis, the lone Republican representing the left-leaning Big Apple.
In many cases, they have given them a place to live, food, and medical care. They should stop using tax money from New Yorkers to protect criminals who are causing trouble on the streets and instead work with ICE to deport them.
Malliotakis also said that she has been using the Freedom of Information Law to ask the NYPD for the same information since the beginning of the year, but “they keep stonewalling.”
The numbers are just as bad across the country.
Of the nearly 7.8 million illegal immigrants in the United States, 662,586 – or 8.6% — are convicted criminals or have charges pending, according to ICE data through July 21. It’s unclear how many are suspected gang members.
Kenneth Genalo, who heads the ICE’s New York City office, told The Post last week he’s hoping to get additional resources to weed out criminal migrants.
Last week, he estimated the number of migrant criminals to be in the thousands in The Post’s exclusive front-page story, while saying he’s “frustrated” over how New York’s sanctuary laws have prevented many of them from being rounded up and deported under his watch.
If things do not change, Genalo said in his first interview since Republican Donald Trump was elected president, “In New York City, it would take a lifetime to clear the city of the criminals that we have.”
Since the immigration crisis began in the spring of 2022, more than 223,000 people have come to New York City alone. At least 58,000 are still being cared for by taxpayers in city-funded shelters.
ICE data made clear what everyone except our elected officials already knew: sanctuary city laws put New Yorkers in danger by protecting criminals instead of law-abiding citizens. Councilman Robert Holden, a moderate Democrat from Queens, said this in response to the data.
When asked about how many criminal immigrants are walking the streets of Gotham, Council Minority Leader Joe Borelli (R-Staten Island) said he was “shocked and appalled, but not surprised.”
“What does a bad person do?” He told Borelli. “They leave for another place.”
He also pointed blame at the Biden administration’s weak border-control policies.
“The Democratic Party, top to bottom, is responsible for every single one of these criminals and should be financially responsible to compensate crime victims,” he said.
In 2014, then-Mayor Bill de Blasio teamed up with the City Council and signed a bill into law barring the NYPD from working with federal immigration officials when they’re seeking to boot dangerous migrants from the US.
The open Marxist then went one step further in 2018 by issuing citywide guidance and new NYPD protocols to make it official that the Big Apple will not work with the federal government.
The changes have had very bad effects. Laken Riley, a nursing student from Georgia, was killed by an illegal immigrant who had been in jail in New York City on child endangerment charges but was later released. Critics have told The Post that Riley might still be alive if the “woke” rules were not in place.
In June, both Holden and Borelli co-sponsored a bill to get rid of “sanctuary” laws that make it harder for NYC police to work with the federal government on immigration issues. However, the bill died in front of the Council’s far-left majority.
Mayor Eric Adams of New York City has called many times for the sanctuary rules to be loosened so that migrants who are “suspected” of “serious” crimes could also be turned over to ICE. He has also said that he does not have the support of the City Council to change the laws.
Holden does not believe the mayor’s excuse that he can not do anything about it.
On Friday, the politician said, “City Hall refuses to take action.” He blamed an Adams-appointed Charter Revision Commission for turning down requests from him, Borelli, and other politicians and citizens who shared his views to put the issue to a vote in the summer.
By law, the commission should make decisions on its own, with input from New Yorkers, including elected officials.
As of Friday, Holden said he still had not heard back from Mayor Adams, Gov. Kathy Hochul, Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, and state Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie about the letter he sent last week. The letter was in support of the bill that was being held up.
MAYOR Adams has said many times that we will continue to follow our city’s sanctuary laws, but we also need to have a serious talk about the few people who commit violent crimes in our city on a regular basis and the consequences they face, according to a spokesperson for the mayor.
We also need to fix the bad border policies that got us here in the first place.