DHS demands NYC honor detainer for illegal immigrant who raped corpse
Tom Homan praises Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration in New York
Border czar Tom Homan details the escalating crackdown on illegal immigration, criticizing New York City’s anti-ICE policies implemented by Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Gov. Kathy Hochul. Homan deplores sanctuary city rules that he believes endanger communities and emphasizes the need for federal enforcement. Responding to arguments for abolishing ICE, he calls on states to cooperate, citing successes in eliminating criminal aliens and combating human trafficking.
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FIRST ON FOX: The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) condemned New York Governor Kathy Hochul and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani for their “sanctuary” policies and demanded that the duo honor an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainee for an illegal immigrant convicted of raping a corpse.
Felix Jeronimo-Rojas, 44, was sentenced Wednesday to five years in prison for sexually assaulting and looting the pockets of Jorge Gonzalez, 37, as he sat dead on the R train near Lower Manhattan’s Whitehall Street station. New York Post.
The Mexican citizen admitted the charges.
“This pervert robbed and raped the body of a dead man on a New York City subway,” said DHS Deputy Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Lauren Bis. “ICE placed a detainer who asked Governor Kathy Hochul and New York sanctuary politicians to pledge not to release this criminal illegal alien after his prison sentence. We need the cooperation of sanctuary politicians to ensure that depraved criminals like this are not released into our communities.”
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Mug shot of Felix Jeronimo-Rojas, a Mexican illegal immigrant who was sentenced to five years in prison for raping and robbing a man who died on a Manhattan subway last week. (Department of Homeland Security)
On April 8, 2025, Gonzalez boarded the train around 7:52 p.m. Manhattan District Attorney’s Office. Authorities said Jeronimo-Rojas remained in the same spot for several hours before losing consciousness around 10:48 p.m., and a few minutes later, Jeronimo-Rojas boarded the train and began raping Gonzalez while she was unresponsive at 11:45 p.m.
DHS filed an immigration detention request for Jeronimo-Rojas on April 30, 2025, DHS told Fox News Digital exclusively. The Department continues to request that this detainee be honored by New York state and city officials at the conclusion of his sentence.
Fox News Digital has reached out to Hochul and Mamdani offices for additional 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 Department of Corrections, enforce 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. Her body was sexually assaulted by Jeronimo-Rojas. (Department of Homeland Security.)
In a statement to Fox News Digital, DHS said New York state released 6,947 illegal immigrants convicted of crimes between January 20 and December 1 of last year.
Jeronimo-Rojas entered the United States illegally four times between 1998 and 1999, according to DHS. He voluntarily returned to Mexico after encountering U.S. Border Patrol each time.
Jeronimo-Rojas later re-entered the country “for a FIFTH time at an unknown date and location,” DHS said.
ICE SAID THAT THE IMMIGRANT WAS ARRESTED AFTER HIS DETENTION REQUEST WAS IGNORED FOR COMMITTING SEX CRIMES AGAINST CHILDREN.
Jeronimo-Rojas surrendered to the NYPD approximately three weeks after committing the crime. According to the New York Post, Jeronimo-Rojas admitted to being caught on security cameras but denied the rape and robbery.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul and New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani attend the SOMOS Puerto Rico conference in San Juan, Puerto Rico on November 6, 2025. (Alejandro Granadillo/AP Photo)
Jeronimo-Rojas did not speak at the sentencing hearing and took a plea deal that would include an initial five-year sentence followed by 15 years of supervised release.
His family told the New York Post that his victim, Gonzalez, came to the United States nearly 20 years ago to work and support loved ones in Mexico.
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“He was not an ordinary person, he was a father, a family man, he valued his family in Mexico,” his wife Teresa, 38, told the press.
“He did construction, he worked in kitchens, he worked as a waiter, he was a busboy. You know, there’s really anything you can do to get ahead,” said Teresa, who was estranged from him for six years.
