A new report has revealed that a New York City Department of Correction (DOC) investigator had violated the city’s sanctuary laws and DOC policy by unlawfully sharing information about two men in custody with federal immigration authorities to further civil immigration enforcement.
The report’s findings underscore gaps in training and oversight at the DOC, which advocates say deepen the fear immigrant communities already experience at a time when civic engagement with local agencies and organizations has declined.
According to the Department of Investigation (DOI), prior to the investigation, the DOC had not provided guidance to its personnel on the agency’s rules and procedures when interacting with immigration enforcement. Nor did the officers receive training about NYC’s sanctuary city laws.
The report found that between November 2024 and February 2025, an investigator assigned to the DOC Correction Intelligence Bureau used city resources to provide information about two immigrants, Cristian Concepcion and Pedro Mujica Villa Nueva, including custodial status, booking photo and other personal details, as well as discharge status and whereabouts, to Homeland Security Investigations.
Sharing such information goes against New York City law, where local agencies may only share information with immigration authorities if ICE presents a judicial warrant and the person has been convicted of a violent or serious crime.
Also read: What Is a Sanctuary City and What Does That Mean for NYC Under Trump?
Even though Concepcion was convicted of Assault on the Third Degree, the report said that neither case met the requirements for assistance with immigration authorities.
Murad Awawdeh, president and CEO of the New York Immigration Coalition, explained New York City’s longstanding sanctuary policies and laws are public safety measures that ensure that any New Yorker, regardless of immigration status, can interact with our public institutions and report emergencies to authorities.
“It is inexcusable that the Mayoral administration’s Department of Corrections has violated the trust created by these policies and broken our laws. This situation is not simply a result of one ‘bad apple’ not knowing the law, but part of a longstanding systemic issue in a department with a legacy of policy violations,” Awawdeh told Documented.
Both individuals had pending criminal cases but the charges and circumstances did not meet the criteria for sharing between local and federal authorities, the report said. DOI added that the actions by the DOC investigator violated the city’s sanctuary laws which state: “No city resources, including, but not limited to, time spent by employees, officers, contractors, or subcontractors while on duty, or the use of city property, shall be utilized for immigration enforcement.”
“As Mayor Adams has repeatedly stated, New York City does not — and will not — participate in civil immigration enforcement, in accordance with local law,” Kayla Mamelak Altus, press secretary for City Hall, told Documented. She added that City Hall was disappointed to learn that the DOC employee had failed to follow law, and acted independently and without direction or consultation from a supervisor.
“To be clear, no one at DOC or within New York City government — aside from the employee himself — had any role in or knowledge of the sharing of sensitive information with federal officials.”
Following the investigation, DOI issued seven recommendations to DOC, including that they should have in-person training on city immigration laws, give staff clearer guidance on handling requests from law enforcement partners, and report any previously unreported immigration-related requests to the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs and others.
“As soon as DOC became aware of the incident, they took immediate action, including dedicated training sessions and agency-wide reminders on DOC policy and our local laws,” Mamelak Altus said. “DOC has also implemented DOI’s recommendations to ensure incidents like this do not happen again.”
