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Rep. Claudia Tenney, R-N.Y., on Saturday criticized New York Attorney General Letitia James for allegedly failing to honor ICE detainers for nearly 7,000 criminal illegal immigrants in New York City — resulting in their release from prison, according to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
On "Saturday in America," host Kayleigh McEnany asked the congresswoman what she thought of the situation, noting that this occurred before New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani's "socialist takeover" of the city on Jan. 1.
"This is a sanctuary state, as you know, still is a sanctuary state, run by the Democrats completely. Even the governor faces a veto-proof majority in the legislature, and now we’ll end up having a pro-sanctuary mayor coming on the 1st of January. There are thousands, almost 7,000 people with these advanced criminal records, like, murder, homicide, rape, extortion, you name it — just about every crime — child sex crimes, that are let into our state every single year, at least this last year," Tenney responded.
Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-NY) speaks during a hearing with the Senate Judiciary subcommittee on Capitol Hill on June 12, 2024 in Washington, DC. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
"Letitia James, our attorney general, was alerted. She doesn’t care, she even goes after and is trying to prosecute any of the local governments who want to cooperate with what is called the 287(g) program," the congresswoman added.
ICE's federal 287(g) program authorizes participating local law enforcement to serve immigration warrants on illegal immigrants already in custody for other offenses, as well as work with ICE within their city.
Tenney said that James is currently prosecuting her hometown's sheriff for cooperating with the program before explaining how these laws directly impact her constituents in Upstate New York.
"My district in Upstate New York — New York 24 — my entire northern border is the Canadian border, and we have had almost 90% of the people on the foreign terror watch list — under Joe Biden — were coming in across the northern border. So, it’s a very dangerous place and an easy place for safe haven, especially with a sanctuary state like New York," she warned.
The press office for James did not immediately return Fox News Digital's request for comment.
New York Attorney General Letitia James leaves the Walter E. Hoffman United States Courthouse following an arraignment hearing on October 24, 2025, in Norfolk, Virginia. (Win McNamee/Getty Image)
On Tuesday, DHS called on James to take action against New York City over its handling of illegal immigrants.
"New York City’s failure to honor ICE detainers has resulted in the release of 6,947 criminal illegal aliens since January 20. There are another 7,000 still in the custody of a New York jurisdiction with an active detainer," DHS wrote on X.
"We are calling on NY Attorney General Letitia James to stop this dangerous derangement and commit to honoring our ICE arrest detainers. It’s common sense."
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In response to a previous request for comment, James' office referred Fox News Digital to a letter that the state attorney general sent to Acting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Director Todd Lyons in September. The letter from James was sent in response to a Sept. 10 message from Lyons. First, she stated that the New York Attorney General's Office does not receive detainer requests "as we rarely take custody of individuals."
Acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) director Todd Lyons testifies before a House Appropriations Homeland Security Subcommittee oversight hearing on U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., May 14, 2025. (Reuters/Ken Cedeno)
She said, "Detainer requests are sent to a variety of entities within the State of New York, many of them local police department and local jails, each of which may have applicable laws and policies with respect to whether, to what degree, and under what circumstances to respond to federal detainer requests."
"This creates a range of lawful practices that we cannot address in our capacity as the attorney general," James' letter reads.
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Fox News' Rachel Wolf contributed to this report.
