Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) tore into New York Governor Kathy Hochul (D) during Thursday’s Oversight Committee hearing on sanctuary state policies, accusing her of maintaining policies that allow illegal aliens to commit horrific crimes.
Hochel sat on the congressional hot seat alongside Democrat sanctuary state governors JB Pritzker of Illinois and Tim Walz of Minnesota.
Stefanik, a potential GOP contender for governor, came out swinging early in the hearing after the opening statements of the witnesses and committee chair Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.) and ranking member Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.).
In his opening statement, Comer declared that the American people overwhelmingly rejected the Biden Administration’s open-border policies in the 2024 election and that now President Donald Trump has a mandate to secure the border and enforce the immigration laws of the United States.
“Three sanctuary state governors from Minnesota, New York, and Illinois are here to testify under oath about why they allow criminal illegal aliens to roam free in American communities,” Comer said. “Let me be clear: sanctuary policies don’t protect Americans. They protect criminal illegal aliens.”
It’s absolutely sickening that sanctuary jurisdictions seek to protect these criminals rather than protect Americans.
Instead of putting America First, the Biden-Harris Administration deliberately dismantled border security to unleash the worst border disaster in American history. Their radical policies allowed millions of illegals to flood our country.
Americans voted to end the Biden Border Crisis, and President Trump has delivered on his promise to secure our borders.
He has taken bold, decisive action to restore our sovereignty and make America safer with each passing day.
And here in Congress, we are working to pass the One Big Beautiful Bill to fund U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement so it can carry out the mass deportation of criminal illegal aliens.
Despite President Trump’s efforts to secure the border and enforce the law, Democrat-run sanctuary cities and states are siding with illegal aliens!
Focusing her remarks on a series of high-profile crimes committed by illegal aliens in New York, Rep. Stefanik argued that the state’s sanctuary policies had shielded the violent criminals from deportation.
Stefanik reminded Hochul that on her first day in office, she signed Executive Order One, which continued all previous executive orders, including Governor Cuomo’s orders limiting state cooperation with federal immigration officials.
Hochel said she wanted a chance to define New York’s sanctuary state status, but the congresswoman interjected, saying: “I’ll define it for you.”
“It is the policy of the state that state officers or employees shall not disclose information to federal immigration authorities for the purpose of federal civil immigration enforcement,” Stefanik said, reading from the executive order.
“It goes on to say, ‘Law enforcement officers may not use resources, equipment or personnel for the purpose of detecting and apprehending any individual suspected or wanted for violating a civil immigration office. Law enforcement officers have no authority in the state of New York to take any policy action solely because the person is an undocumented alien,’ she continued. “That’s a quote in your executive orders that you extended.”
Stefanik then asked the governor if the name “Sakir Akkan” rang a bell.
But Hochul wanted to go back to the first question and argue that Cuomo’s executive orders simply stated that “we will cooperate with ICE.”
“No, it does not say that,” Steganik shot back. “I read what it says. And let me talk to you about the results. Do you know who Sakir Akkan is? You should as the governor of New York State?”
Hochul weakly asked the congresswoman to “refresh my recollection.”
“He was an illegal migrant in New York, and do you know what crime he committed in addition to being here illegally?” she asked. “You do not. This was widely reported. He found a 15-year-old girl threatened her with a metal pole, told her to get into the back seat of his car. He took her clothes off, and he violently raped her in Albany, New York.”
Akkan had sought asylum in the U.S. after being arrested by federal Border Patrol agents in November 2023 for crossing the southern border illegally near San Diego, according to immigration records obtained by the Times Union.
Three weeks after the sexual assault, Akkan was pulled over by Troy police. He was ticketed and let go even though Albany detectives had already identified him as their suspect, but had not issued a bulletin for his arrest.
The traffic stop in Troy took place on June 6, eight days after Albany detectives had gathered enough evidence from security cameras and license plate readers to confirm Akkan’s alleged involvement in the rape case. Their evidence included having the alleged victim identify Akkan in a photo array, more than two weeks after the rape took place.
Stefanik went on to ask the governor if she knew who Sebastian Zapeta-Calil was.
“I’m sure you’ll tell me. There’s many cases,” Hochul replied.
“These are high-profile cases, New Yorkers know about them and you don’t?” the congresswoman fired back. “So let’s talk about Sebastian Zapeta-Calil. Do you know who that is?”
Hochul responded that she did not have “the specific details at my disposal,” so the congress took the opportunity to enlighten her.
“Well, this is an illegal migrant in New York because of your sanctuary state policies,” she said. “Do you know what crime he committed?”
Hochul answered that she was not “familiar at this moment.”
“I bet you’re going to be familiar when I remind you.” Stefanik shot back, before detailing the Guatemalan’s horrific crime.
“He found a sleeping woman on the subway, lit her on fire, and burnt her alive,” she said. “This is in Kathy Hochul’s New York, and as I’m sure you are aware, and I’ll remind you, that ICE issued an order to detain this violent criminal, but that was rejected by New York officials due to sanctuary state laws.”
Zapeta-Calil was initially turned away at the border in 2018 but successfully snuck across later on an “unknown date and location,” according to a Biden ICE spokesman in December.
Next, Stefanik asked the governor if she knew who Raymond Rojas Basilio was.
Hochul started to say that “these crimes are horrific” but was cut short by the congresswoman, who fired back: “Because of your sanctuary state policies.”
The governor insisted that in all of these cases, the state of New York “would work with ICE.”
“You did not in this case,” Stefanik responded. “They are walking on the streets because of your policies and your executive order that you signed three times. Now, Raymond Rojas Basilio, do you know who that is?”
Again, Hochul tried to claim that New York officials cooperate with ICE, but Stefanik was having none of it.
“You do not. You do not,” she shot back. “Specifically, ICE was told not to detain this individual and he burned a woman alive on the New York subways in Kathy Hochuls’s New York.”
The congresswoman went on to cite the case of Mexican child molester Raymond Rojas Basilio.
“He is an illegal who molested an 11-year-old in our state because, again, of your sanctuary state policies. This illegal was shielded from federal immigration enforcement and able to commit this heinous crime.
Basilio had been removed from the United States on 5 separate occasions and came back at an unknown time and location, according to an ICE press release in December 2024.
The New York Police Department arrested Rojas Aug. 28, 2023, for the crimes of first-degree sexual abuse with an individual less than 11-years-old. Rojas was released from local custody prior to ERO lodging an immigration detainer. The Kings County Supreme Court in Brooklyn convicted Rojas of forcible touching of the intimate parts of another person, Sept. 20, 2024. The court sentenced him Nov. 11 to 60 days incarceration, six years’ probation and required him to register as a sex offender.
Stefanik went on to cite one last illegal alien criminal.
“What about Wilson Castillo Diaz? Do you know who that is?” she asked.
“I’m telling you this, we do cooperate fully with ICE in criminal projects,” Hochul insisted.
“You’re not advocating for these victims,” Stepfanik interjected, before informing the governor that Diaz had raped a five-year-old girl on Long Island in Nassau County in October, 2024.
Diaz illegally entered the U.S. near the Rio Grande Valley in Texas on April 12, 2014, according to the Nassau County Police Department. It is not immediately clear which country he arrived from. Authorities said Diaz was placed under arrest by U.S. Border Patrol after entering the U.S., but he was ultimately released. He later failed to appear for an immigration court hearing.
“You are not advocating on behalf of these victims. You are shielding illegals, even in your opening statement your prioritizing putting illegals first,” Stefanik charged. “Rape of young girls, beatings of NYPD cops by illegals who are here under Kathy Hochul’s failed policies, burning New Yorkers alive. This is Kathy Hochul’s New York.”
Hochul again acknowledged that “these are horrific crimes,” before being interrupted again by the congresswoman.
“They’re horrific crimes that are committed on your watch,” Stefanik asserted. “You signed this executive order on your first day in office. You signed it again and again this January. We deserve a governor who stands up for law-abiding New Yorkers, doesn’t put illegals first, but puts New Yorkers first.”
Hochul tried to hit back with a zinger, saying, “Rather than going after the viral moment, I suggest you …”
But Stefanik interrupted her again, “No, no, I’m standing up for New Yorkers. Rather than addressing the illegals in New York, you are prioritizing your Far Left sanctuary state policies, which you put in place with executive orders, instead of advocating for victims – a five-year-old who was raped – No amount of words is going to clean up your failed record, and these horrific crimes committed in a sanctuary state that you created. And with that, I yield back.”
Stefanik later blasted the governor in a press release, saying: “Kathy Hochul Heartlessly Does Not Even Know Illegals Who Burned Alive, Raped, Molested New Yorkers.”