The Department of Homeland Security is sharply criticizing New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani over the state and city’s “sanctuary” policies, urging officials to honor an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainer for Felix Jeronimo-Rojas, a migrant convicted in a disturbing subway case involving the sexual assault of a dead man.
Jeronimo-Rojas, 44, was sentenced Wednesday to five years in prison after prosecutors said he sexually assaulted 37-year-old Jorge Gonzalez and searched through his pockets while Gonzalez sat dead aboard an R train near Lower Manhattan’s Whitehall Street station, according to the New York Post.
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 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.”
According to the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, Gonzalez boarded the train at about 7:52 p.m. on April 8, 2025, and remained in the same spot for several hours. Authorities said he lost consciousness around 10:48 p.m. Jeronimo-Rojas boarded the train minutes later, and prosecutors said that at approximately 11:45 p.m., he began assaulting Gonzalez while he was unresponsive.
DHS told Fox News Digital that ICE lodged an immigration detainer for Jeronimo-Rojas on April 30, 2025. The department said it is continuing to press New York state and city officials to comply with the detainer once Jeronimo-Rojas completes his prison sentence.
Fox News Digital contacted the offices of Hochul and Mamdani seeking additional comment.
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Hochul oversees state-level policies that restrict certain cooperation with federal immigration enforcement, while Mamdani is responsible for how city agencies, including the New York Police Department and the Department of Correction, carry out New York City’s sanctuary rules.
In a statement to Fox News Digital, 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 Post, Jeronimo-Rojas acknowledged he was caught on surveillance footage but denied the rape and the robbery.
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 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.
