Kristi Noem, Trump's Homeland Security secretary, joins federal action in NYC to detain migrants

Federal agents came to New York City Tuesday to detain foreign migrants who have been charged with crimes, according to President Donald Trump's Homeland Security secretary, Kristi Noem.

It's unclear how many were detained, where they were apprehended or their countries of origin.

The detentions are the latest being carried out in cities across the United States, including Chicago, Miami and Boston, part of Trump's promise of more aggressive deportation operations than under Joe Biden.

"Arresting some criminal aliens this morning in NYC," Noem posted on X, tagging various federal law enforcement agencies as well as the NYPD.

She posted video before sunrise of a darkened street and what appears to be the apprehension of someone with "kidnapping, assault & burglary charges" who is "is now in custody."

"Dirtbags like this will continue to be removed from our streets," one of Noem's posts says.

Trump has promised to execute the largest deportation operation in American history, starting with those accused or convicted of crimes.

Mayor Eric Adams has said he supports deporting criminal migrants.

One of Tuesday's arrests was of Anderson Zambrano-Pacheco, 26, who was wanted for burglary and menacing with a firearm in connection with a viral-video incident in Aurora, Colorado, in August in which six suspects entered an apartment complex, according to a police spokesman in that city, Joe Moylan.

Since spring 2022, hundreds of thousands of foreign migrants have come to New York City. A fraction of them have been charged with crimes.

"Mayor Adams has made clear that New York City is committed to working with our federal partners to fix our broken immigration system and focus on the small number of people who are entering our localities and committing violent crimes," Adams' spokeswoman Kayla Mamelak said Tuesday.

A study released last year by the U.S. Department of Justice found that immigrants in the country illegally are arrested at less than half the rate of native-born citizens for drug and violent crimes and a quarter the rate for property crimes.

In a news release Tuesday, Adams said Tuesday's arrests involved the NYPD coordinating with the feds in a "targeted operation to arrest an individual connected with multiple violent crimes, both here in New York and in Aurora, Colorado, including burglary, kidnapping, extortion, firearms possession, menacing with a firearm, crime of violence, and other charges."

"Our commitment to protecting our city’s law-abiding residents, both citizens and immigrants remains unwavering," according to the statement, which addressed only one of the arrests referenced by Noem.

That was the only one the NYPD was involved with, Mamelak said.

Adams this week was summoned to testify before a Republican-led Congressional committee investigating sanctuary city jurisdictions, as were other mayors such as Michelle Wu of Boston, Brandon Johnson of Chicago and Mike Johnston of Denver.

Mamelak said by text: "We will review the letter and respond accordingly."

Detentions of immigrants accused of crimes aren't new — they have happened before President Joe Biden's tenure — but Trump has promised to ramp them up.

During the most recent fiscal year, under Biden, there were roughly 80,000 arrests nationwide, with about 900 in New York, by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency of those who had criminal convictions or pending criminal charges, according to ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Statistics online.

By Matthew Chayes

matthew.chayes@newsday.comchayesmatthew

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