NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch is defending the NYPD’s cooperation with federal immigration authorities currently detaining a Palestinian woman who participated in protests at Columbia University, arguing New York’s strict sanctuary laws don’t apply.
But advocates for immigrants say that Tisch is dangerously wrong in the case of the woman, 32-year-old Leqaa Kordia, and in effect cooperating with the Trump administration practice of arresting people first and providing justifications later.
The situation is alarming immigrant advocates, who warn it could reveal a massive loophole in the city’s sanctuary laws being actively exploited by the NYPD.
At a press briefing with Mayor Eric Adams on Tuesday, Tisch addressed a question about how the sealed record of Kordia’s arrest last year ended up in the hands of the Department of Homeland Security. That document was subsequently used by DHS attorneys arguing for her deportation in immigration court.
Tisch described the recent handover of Kordia’s NYPD file as part of a “fairly standard” process under which an agent with Homeland Security Investigations in New Jersey requested the record from the NYPD, saying it was for a money laundering investigation.
While New York City’s sanctuary laws forbid cooperation on civil immigration enforcement, in a case like that involves an underlying criminal investigation, the NYPD regularly complies with federal requests, Tisch said.
“When we get that type of request into our real-time crime center from any partners, but also our federal partners, we ask a bunch of information, the name of the person making the request, where they’re assigned, and what the request is related to,” she explained.
“In the case that you are asking about, the member said that they were seeking information on this person related to a money laundering investigation, and that is fairly standard for us, and so the information was provided,” Tisch added.