Rep. Elise Stefanik took the sanctuary debate straight to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul on Thursday, leaving the Democrat struggling for answers over why illegal immigrants were running loose in communities to commit horrific crimes.
Ms. Stefanik ticked off appalling cases, including the rape of a 5-year-old, the rape of a 15-year-old and a sleeping woman lit on fire and burned alive in the subway — all of which were perpetrated by migrants shielded by sanctuary laws, the New York Republican said.
Ms. Hochul said she didn’t recall any of the cases — “I’m not familiar at this moment” — though she denounced the crimes themselves.
“These crimes are horrific,” she said. “In all of these cases, we would work with ICE to remove them.”
The exchange came during a hearing before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee with governors whose states have sanctuary policies.
One of the New York cases involved Raymond Rojas Basilio, an illegal immigrant set free by local authorities after serving a child molestation sentence.
Another involved a migrant accused of sneaking up on the sleeping woman and lighting her afire, killing her.
“ICE was told not to detain this individual, and he burned a woman alive on the subway, in Kathy Hochul’s New York,” Ms. Stefanik said.
Ms. Hochul said members of Congress were misconstruing her policies. In some cases, she said, the refusal to cooperate came from local, not state, policies.
She said state authorities have turned over more than 1,300 migrants to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in cases where they have had full criminal convictions.
“The state of New York cooperates. We cooperate in the removal of individuals who’ve served time,” she said.
Rep. Jim Jordan, Ohio Republican, pointed to a case where a machete-wielding illegal immigrant was released even though ICE said it would rush over to pick him up. Mr. Jordan said the case even had a criminal warrant, which is what sanctuary jurisdictions say they want to see before they’ll cooperate.
Ms. Hochul said that was contrary to state policy, but she didn’t control local officials such as the sheriff in that case.
Mr. Jordan said the sheriff may have been frightened after Ms. Hochul complained this year of “renegade” local officials who were cooperating with ICE.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.