Suffolk turns over Pablo Aguilar-Alvarez, drunken driver previously deported, to ICE after arrest

A four-time felony drunken driver previously deported after his latest DWI conviction was detained Monday and turned over to federal immigration agents by Suffolk County District Attorney investigators, the office said Tuesday.

The driver, Pablo Aguilar-Alvarez, 36, a Salvadoran national, was pulled over in Riverhead by the investigators and had been driving despite being released on Aug. 7 on the condition he didn't drive pending sentencing for his latest drunken-driving conviction, the office wrote in a news release issued Tuesday.

Aguilar-Alvarez is in the United States illegally, the release said, having been deported in 2024 following his third drunken driving conviction, a felony. He has four felony drunken driving convictions, the release said, and one misdemeanor.

Unlike in Suffolk, neighboring Nassau County officers are deputized as immigration agents under an agreement with the Trump administration. 

The district attorney’s office declined to say through email how often, and under what circumstances it turns over immigrants to federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, except to cite Gov. Kathy Hochul’s remarks from May: "New York is not a sanctuary for criminals, and we will cooperate when crimes are being committed, going after dangerous criminals — not the act of crossing the border, but dangerous criminals. We'll help them there."

Hochul’s office did not return a message seeking comment.

At the Aug. 7 hearing, Aguilar-Alvarez was released, over the objection of the district attorney’s office, pending sentencing for the felony drunken driving conviction in Southampton. He had a blood-alcohol content more than twice the legal limit, prosecutors said.

Under state law, the judge had the discretion to release him pending sentencing.

"After consultation with the District Attorney’s Office, federal immigration authorities detained Aguilar-Alvarez as he was leaving the office following the processing of his most recent arrest," the release said, adding that he was also charged with driving without a valid license Monday. "The District Attorney’s Office will file a writ to bring Aguilar-Alvarez back to Suffolk County for sentencing on his felony conviction and for the summons."

Neither Aguilar-Alvarez nor a lawyer for him could be reached for comment.

By Matthew Chayes

matthew.chayes@newsday.comchayesmatthew

Matthew Chayes, a Newsday reporter since 2007, covers New York City.