Darializa Avila Chevalier, a Democratic congressional candidate in New York City, says undocumented immigrants convicted of crimes should not be deported, arguing that removal would amount to a “violation of our constitution.”
Chevalier, 32, who identifies as a socialist, told WNYC that immigration authorities should not pursue convicted criminals solely because they are not U.S. citizens.
Speaking on the outlet’s Who’s Running This Place podcast, she said the criminal justice system should treat offenders the same way regardless of their immigration status.
“Think about, for example, the way we deal with folks who are citizens who engage in criminal activity,” Chevalier said. “They go through the criminal system, they are tried and then they pay their debt to society.”
“But if that person is, for some reason, not a citizen or was born elsewhere, all of a sudden they have to face an additional level of scrutiny through ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement).”
“That is, in itself, a violation of our constitution on the basis of where someone was born.”
Chevalier is the Democratic nominee for New York’s 13th Congressional District, which includes Upper Manhattan and the Bronx. Her latest comments come after she previously drew attention for a series of controversial policy positions.
She has faced criticism for supporting the abolition of police departments, prisons and national borders, as well as backing government seizure of private property and economic policies critics have compared with Communism.
Darializa Avila Chevalier, a Democratic congressional candidate in New York City, says undocumented immigrants who commit crimes should not be deported, arguing that removal would be a “violation of our constitution.”
Chevalier’s comments prompted a wave of criticism from opponents who characterized her position on immigration enforcement as overly lenient.
A clip of the interview attracted hundreds of thousands of views online. One commenter wrote: “She talks with confidence about something she very clearly does not understand.”
Another said: “I can’t tell if they seriously believe this or if they are getting something out of talking this crazy.”
Chevalier addressed ICE enforcement after an ICE agent shot Oscar Belgal, a suspected Dominican gang member, in New York City earlier this month.
The shooting of 28-year-old Dominican national Oscar Belgal triggered backlash. In response, Chevalier’s Democratic Socialists of America group called for the immediate removal of NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch.
At a rally following the shooting, Chevalier said Belgal’s criminal history “doesn’t even matter,” after reports emerged that he had a lengthy record.
The day after the shooting, Chevalier also called for Tisch’s resignation, accusing the commissioner of protecting what she described as a “militia” of armed ICE officers.
The socialist candidate, who is backed by NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani, has faced scrutiny over policy positions including calls to abolish the police and prisons, eliminate the border, and seize landlords’ properties for transfer to the government.
Chevalier addressed ICE enforcement after supporting suspected Dominican gang member Oscar Belgal, who was shot by an ICE agent in New York City earlier this month.
The controversy follows earlier headlines surrounding Chevalier’s far-left policy positions, including her past calls to abolish police departments and prisons.
In social media posts she later deleted during her congressional campaign, Chevalier said she hoped society would one day have “no more police at all, ever.”
She has also supported ‘abolishing the border,’ called for ‘seizing all properties from landlords’ and handing them to the government, and has been criticized for offensive views on interracial relationships.
In other posts, she wrote that black and Arab men who are with white women ‘fetishize ugly colonizer women.’
She also previously called for ‘abolishing the border,’ and when pressed over that view, she responded: ‘Yes literally abolish the border, all deportation is wrong.’
Chevalier also sparked backlash for joking about wiping her dirty hands on the American flag, and she has previously described the US as a ‘disgrace.’
During the 2024 election cycle, Chevalier repeatedly called Joe Biden a ‘rapist’ and a ‘war criminal,’ and also previously wrote that ‘the pyromania associated with anarchism is very intriguing to me.’
Chevalier (pictured being handcuffed by an NYPD officer during an anti-Israel protest in April 2026) is the Democratic nominee for New York’s 13th Congressional district spanning upper Manhattan and the Bronx
But when questioned earlier this year over her social media posts, Chevalier stormed out of an interview with El Vacilón de la Mañana host Excarlet Molina and again refused to answer tough questions.
The host said she was offended by Avila Chevalier previously framing the Dominican flag as ‘violent,’ but Avila Chevalier said that all she wanted to discuss were the ‘issues’ facing residents of New York 13.
When the hosts began talking over her, Avila Chevalier responded: ‘I am not going to sit here and be yelled at by various people,’ before removing her headphones and walking right out of the studio.
The exchange came hours before Avila Chevalier’s big win in her district’s Democratic primary, where she defeated incumbent Adriano Espaillat in what many considered a major upset.
