Tom Homan touts Trump admin’s escalated illegal immigration crackdown in New York
Border czar Tom Homan outlined a tougher federal push against illegal immigration, taking aim at New York City’s anti-ICE stance under Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Governor Kathy Hochul. Homan argued that federal enforcement is essential and said sanctuary policies put public safety at risk. He also pushed back on calls to dismantle ICE, pointing to the agency’s work removing criminal aliens and targeting human trafficking while urging state and local leaders to cooperate.
Felix Jeronimo-Rojas, 44, was sentenced Wednesday to five years in prison after admitting he sexually assaulted and stole from 37-year-old Jorge Gonzalez while Gonzalez sat dead aboard an R train near Lower Manhattan’s Whitehall Street station, the New York Post reported.
Jeronimo-Rojas, a Mexican national, pleaded 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 Governor 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.”
Mugshot of Felix Jeronimo-Rojas, an illegal immigrant from Mexico who was sentenced to five years in prison last week for raping and robbing the corpse of a man who died on the subway in Manhattan. (Department of Homeland Security)
According to the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, Gonzalez boarded the train at about 7:52 p.m. on April 8, 2025. Officials said he remained in the same area for hours before becoming unconscious around 10:48 p.m. Jeronimo-Rojas entered the train minutes later, and prosecutors said he began violating Gonzalez at approximately 11:45 p.m. while Gonzalez was unresponsive.
DHS placed an immigration detainer on Jeronimo-Rojas on April 30, 2025, the agency exclusively told News Agency. The department said it is still pressing New York state and city officials to honor the detainer once he completes his prison term.
News Agency contacted the offices of Hochul and Mamdani seeking further 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 city’s sanctuary policies.
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An undated photo of Jorge Gonzalez, 37, who died on the R train in Manhattan on April 8, 2025. His corpse was sexually assaulted by Jeronimo-Rojas (The Department of Homeland Security.)
In a statement to News Agency, DHS said New York state released 6,947 illegal immigrants that were convicted of crimes last year between Jan. 20 and Dec. 1.
Jeronimo-Rojas has illegally entered the United States four times between 1998 and 1999, according to DHS. Each time, he voluntarily returned to Mexico after encounters with U.S. Border Patrol.
Jeronimo-Rojas then re-entered the country “for FIFTH time at an unknown date and location,” DHS said.
Roughly three weeks after committing the crime, Jeronimo-Rojas turned himself in to the NYPD. Per the New York Post, Jeronimo-Rojas acknowledged he was caught on surveillance footage but denied the rape and the robbery.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani attend the SOMOS Puerto Rico conference in San Juan, Puerto Rico, on Nov. 6, 2025. (Alejandro Granadillo/AP Photo)
Jeronimo-Rojas did not speak at his sentencing hearing and took a plea deal that will include 15 years of supervised release after his initial five-year prison sentence.
Gonzalez, his victim, came to the U.S. about 20 years ago to work and support his loved ones in Mexico, his family told the New York Post.
“He wasn’t just a random person, he was a father, he was a family man, he cared about his family in Mexico,” his 38-year-old wife Teresa told the outlet.
“He did construction, he worked in kitchens, he worked as a waiter, he was a busboy. You know, anything you really could do to try to get ahead,” said Teresa, who was separated from him for six years.
