Trump administration officials criticized New York City’s sanctuary policies on Monday during a press conference after an attack on an off-duty Customs and Border Protection officer over the weekend.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, White House border czar Tom Homan, CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott, and acting CBP Executive Assistant Commissioner Diane Sabatino were present at the press conference. They had a unified message for mayors of cities that refuse to turn over illegal immigrants in jail to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
“My hope is that this would wake up these individuals, and they would recognize that they can’t keep letting these dangerous criminals go,” Noem said in a plea to Democratic New York City Mayor Eric Adams. “They can’t continue to let these individuals be brought in for crimes they’re committing against the public and then releasing them right back onto the streets with no consequences whatsoever.”
On Saturday evening, a CBP officer, who has not been identified by the agency, and his friend were robbed at gunpoint after being ambushed under the George Washington Bridge in Fort Washington Park. The gunman rode up to the pair on the backseat of a moped driven by his partner.
The off-duty officer drew his service weapon and was shot in the cheek and left arm before the robber fled the scene on the moped. The officer shot and injured one of the robbers, who later sought medical care at a nearby hospital, where police responded and took him into custody.
UPDATE: footage shows two assailants, one an illegal alien with criminal charges, ambushing and shooting a @CBP officer yesterday in New York City. pic.twitter.com/m4BHRjhXpD
— Homeland Security (@DHSgov) July 20, 2025
“This officer is in the hospital today, fighting for his life because of the policies of the mayor of the city and the city council, and the people that were in charge of keeping the public safe; they refused to do so,” Noem said.
As of Monday morning, the officer, 42, remains hospitalized in the intensive care unit, Noem said.
The two suspects illegally entered the United States and were released into the country during the Biden administration, according to Scott.
The hospitalized suspect was identified as Miguel Francisco Mora Nunez, a Dominican Republic national who first came into the country in 2023.
Suspect Miguel Francisco Mora Nunez is a national and citizen of the Dominican Republic.
RE ENTERED and RELEASED under Biden— on April 4, 2023 the United States Border Patrol apprehended him at/near San Luis, AZ.
This criminal has a criminal warrant in Massachusetts for… https://t.co/zHo93ENSuo pic.twitter.com/zajApb7nLh
— Secretary Kristi Noem (@Sec_Noem) July 20, 2025
“[Nunez] has a rap sheet that is a mile long. He was arrested. He was charged with grand larceny and also assault. The state of Massachusetts has an active warrant out for him, armed robbery with a firearm. He also has many other charges against him, such as kidnapping and witness intimidation,” Noem said. “There’s absolutely zero reason that someone who is scum of the earth like this should be running loose on the streets of New York City, arrested four different times in New York City.”
Noem said the second suspect was arrested by DHS Homeland Security Investigations agents and law enforcement early Monday morning. Dominican national Christhian Aybar-Berroa illegally entered the U.S. in 2022 and was released into the country. He was later ordered deported by an immigration judge, but remained at large.
Aybar-Berroa also had a criminal record, and ICE had requested NYC police turn him over.
The second suspect involved in the shooting of @CBP agent was caught by @ICEGov early this morning. Christhian Aybar-Berroa, is an illegal from the Dominican Republic. He entered the country illegally in 2022 under the Biden Administration and was ordered for final removed in… pic.twitter.com/8LJVxcWtwq
— Secretary Kristi Noem (@Sec_Noem) July 21, 2025
Homan lamented that the attack could have been “100% prevented” and was “caused by bad policy” that allowed an illegal immigrant with a criminal record to be released onto the street rather than turned over to ICE.
“Sanctuary cities are sanctuaries for criminals,” Homan said.
Homan warned that the DHS plans to “flood the zone,” sending more federal officers and agents into sanctuary cities to arrest illegal immigrants who committed crimes and were released by local police and jails rather than handed over to federal authorities.
As the Trump administration has deployed DHS personnel into cities to make arrests at-large, the number of assaults on them has increased by more than 830%, Noem said, though she did not provide a time frame.
“What we’ll do in a city like this is we’ll double down. We’ll put more agents here. We’ll put more personnel here. We’ll give them more equipment, more training for situations where they may have to go into a dangerous neighborhood where local law enforcement won’t be there to have their backs,” Noem said.
ATTENDANCE PLUNGES AT LOS ANGELES CATHOLIC CHURCHES AS PARISHIONERS STAY HOME TO AVOID ICE
Sanctuary jurisdictions are cities that have voted not to cooperate with requests from the federal government to detain and turn over criminal illegal immigrants.
Mecklenburg County Sheriff Garry McFadden, a second-term Democrat in Charlotte, North Carolina, told the Washington Examiner in April that he would gladly cooperate with ICE and turn over detained illegal immigrants, but would risk lawsuits if he did so.