Trump DOJ slams 'sanctuary city' sheriff in upstate New York for releasing illegal immigrant convicted of assault—suspect now in federal custody

An illegal immigrant who pleaded guilty to assault charges in upstate New York and was released by a sheriff in a sanctuary city has been taken into custody by federal authorities. President Donald Trump's Department of Justice slammed the sheriff for releasing the convict.

"Jesus Romero-Hernandez, 27, was charged in a federal criminal complaint on Jan. 8, 2024, with illegally reentering the United States after a prior removal," a press release from the DOJ stated. Romero-Hernandez is an illegal immigrant from Mexico and had pleaded guilty on Tuesday to third-degree assault charges in Tompkins County, New York.

He was released quickly by the local authorities, despite having a federal arrest warrant placed on him for illegal entry into the country. Acting Deputy Attorney Emil Bove said of the case, “The Tompkins County Sheriff’s Office in Ithaca, NY, a self-described sanctuary city, appears to have failed to honor a valid federal arrest warrant for a criminal alien with an assault conviction."

“Yesterday, despite the warrant, a defendant with no legal status and a history of violence was released into the community. Federal agents risked their safety and pursued the defendant in unsafe conditions. Today, they were successful in recapturing the defendant," Bove added.

A Tompkins County representative said that county “policy states that county employees, such as the sheriff, ‘should not engage in certain activities solely for the purpose of enforcing federal immigration law, including ‘a civil immigration warrant,’ administrative warrant, or an immigration detainer in the individual’s name, including those identified in the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) database,” according to the New York Post.

Romero-Hernandez pleaded guilty to third-degree assault, resolving his New York State assault charges. However, the Tompkins County Sheriff’s Office declined to enforce the federal arrest warrant, according to the DOJ. They released him before ICE-ERO could arrive to take him into custody and transport him to federal court in Syracuse for his arraignment on the pending federal criminal complaint.