Trump administration slams Mamdani, Hochul over immigration status of East Side subway shoving suspect
Published in Political News
NEW YORK — The Trump administration on Thursday levied attacks at Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Gov. Kathy Hochul over the immigration status of a repeatedly deported Honduran man now accused of shoving two straphangers from a subway platform onto the tracks below.
ICE asked unspecified law enforcement agencies to detain Bairon Hernandez, who is already in jail and was charged with first-degree assault on Wednesday in connection with the incident on Sunday at the Lexington Ave.-63rd St. station, according to Spokespeople for the Department of Homeland Security
The attack left 83-year-old Air Force veteran Richard Williams clinging to life with critical head injuries.
Hernandez, 34, who came to the U.S. from Honduras when he was 16, was held on six-figure bail sums at his arraignment Wednesday, which his lawyer said he would not be able to pay. He’s charged with two counts of first-degree of assault.
If he’s found guilty of carrying out the violent attacks, at that point New York’s sanctuary laws would not prevent law enforcement from cooperating with ICE.
Lauren Bis, the deputy assistant secretary at DHS, in a statement said Hernandez had been deported from the U.S. four times. He was previously convicted of entering the country illegally and then reentering after he had been deported.
“Bairon Posada-(Hernandez) is a serial criminal, and four-time deported illegal alien from Honduras who should never have been able to walk our streets and harm innocent Americans,” Bis said. “DHS is calling upon New York sanctuary politicians to commit to this ICE detainer and not release this heinous criminal back into New York communities.”
Spokespeople for DHS did not respond to the Daily News’s inquiries about which offices or agencies had received a formal request regarding Hernandez’s incarceration status.
The press release went on to levy criticisms against Mamdani and Hochul for their support of sanctuary policies that prohibit local authorities from aiding ICE in some circumstances.
New York’s sanctuary policies prevent local law enforcement from detaining undocumented people for ICE — but there are exceptions for when a person has been convicted of violent offenses, as would be the case if Hernandez is convicted.
The Daily News reached out to spokespeople for Mamdani and Hochul.
Prosecutors for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office referenced Hernandez’s immigration status at his arraignment Wednesday in asking a judge to hold him without bail. The court set bail sums ranging between $100,000 and $300,000, with his lawyer, Michael Papson, saying he would struggle to pay any amount.
Spokespeople for Bragg’s office declined to comment Thursday.
Papson, with New York County Defender Services, on Wednesday rejected the prosecution’s claims that his client posed a risk of flight. He said he had never been arrested in New York, had been gainfully employed at the same job for 14 years, that he lived with a roommate in Brooklyn, and that his father lived nearby in Jersey City. Papson declined to comment on the DHS statement on Thursday.
“He vehemently denies these allegations,” Papson said at the proceeding. “He’s never been arrested in the state of New York — ever.”
Williams remained on life support at New York-Presbyterian Hospital, Weill Cornell on Thursday. Also targeted in the attack was Jhon Rodriguez, 30, who sustained non-life-threatening injuries.
Hernandez was arrested on Tuesday after someone called the NYPD to say they recognized him in wanted posters distributed by the police department. He’s due back in court Friday.
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(With Josephine Stratman.)
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