Department of Correction investigator violated sanctuary city law, DOI report finds

An investigator for the New York City Department of Correction violated the city’s sanctuary policies by providing information to federal immigration authorities about at least two people in custody, the city’s independent watchdog agency found. 

The findings are detailed in a Department of Investigation report released Thursday morning. The report does not name the official who allegedly violated the sanctuary laws, but it describes them as an investigator assigned to the Homeland Security Investigations Violent Gang Task Force. In actions between late last year and February 2025, the report says, the investigator assisted U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in their arrest of Cristian Concepcion, who was believed to have entered the country illegally. Concepcion was already on Rikers Island, charged with attempted murder in the second degree, and later pled to assault in the third degree. But the report found that the DOC investigator shared information about Concepcion’s release from Rikers in February 2025 that was “critical” to his later arrest by ICE. Among other things, the investigator followed Concepcion in a black van to share his realtime whereabouts with ICE. Separately, the investigator additionally provided information to federal immigration authorities about another person in DOC custody. 

All actions violated city law and DOC policy, which prohibit furthering federal civil immigration enforcement except in certain cases. 

In both circumstances, according to the report, the investigator was not aware that they were violating the city’s sanctuary policies, which the Department of Investigation attributed to the DOC failing “to provide proper guidance and training” to its staff about how to comply with these measures. The report did not recommend discipline for the investigator and none was taken. But the report did include a series of policy and procedure recommendations for DOC to improve its current practice. Most, like instructing staff to direct all immigration-related requests from other law enforcement authorities to the agency’s ICE unit and legal division, were accepted and are currently being implemented. 

Under New York City’s sanctuary laws, local agencies are barred from sharing information with federal immigration authorities to help conduct civil immigration enforcement, and the NYPD and DOC are prohibited from honoring requests from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to detain a person to potentially be deported, though there are some exceptions, including for people convicted of committing certain serious crimes.

The activity described in the report took place between November 2024 and February 2025. Mayor Eric Adams has advocated for changing sanctuary city policies to allow greater cooperation with federal authorities and has found common ground with President Donald Trump’s administration on that front. Adams and the Trump administration have also faced accusations of engaging in a “quid pro quo,” with Adams allegedly agreeing to collaborate with federal authorities on immigration in exchange for having his corruption case dismissed, which the Trump Department of Justice achieved earlier this year. Both Adams and the Trump administration have denied the existence of a quid pro quo. 

Adams did, however, agree in a February meeting with Trump border czar Tom Homan to reopen ICE offices on Rikers Island – an effort which has so far failed following pushback from the City Council. 

A spokesperson for Adams’ office affirmed that the recommendations in the report have been implemented. “We were disappointed to learn that a Department of Correction employee – acting independently and without direction or consultation from a supervisor – unknowingly failed to follow city law and DOC policy related to immigration enforcement,” press secretary Kayla Mamelak Altus said in a statement. “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. 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.” Spokespeople for the Department of Correction did not provide further comment. 

The City Council laid responsibility for the violation at the mayor’s feet, calling it a “failure of the mayoral administration and agency leadership” to prepare staff for a situation that should have been anticipated. “It is why the Council instructed DOI to investigate the NYPD following allegations of cooperation with federal authorities for civil immigration proceedings,” Council spokesperson Rendy Desamours added.