Over the weekend, an off-duty Border Patrol agent visiting Fort Washington Park in Manhattan was shot in the face in an apparent attempted robbery. The agent, who thankfully survived the encounter, managed to shoot his attacker, who was later taken into custody by police.
Police later revealed that the suspect in the brazen shooting, identified as 21-year-old Miguel Mora, had been wanted on charges in two other incidents: a robbery in December 2024 and a felony assault in January 2025. Mora also happens to be an undocumented resident; hailing from the Dominican Republic, federal officials and the NYPD said he illegally crossed the border into Arizona from Mexico in 2023.
Two days after the shooting, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem and Border Czar Tom Homan came to Manhattan to vow that more ICE agents were on the way to do the job that they believe the city cannot: Protect the people.
The facts, of course, are that the city is safe and protects New Yorkers every day. Crime has fallen month after month under the direction of Mayor Eric Adams and Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch, both of whom deserve credit for their zero-tolerance efforts.
Make no mistake: There is zero reason why someone like Mora — with a violent criminal record to his name — should remain in the United States if they came here under illegal pretenses.
That should be the sole focus of ICE’s operation: Rounding up the “bad guys” proven to have injured and endangered all New Yorkers and Americans.
But as we know from our months of coverage at immigration court in Lower Manhattan, ICE is not just rounding up the bad guys. They’re taking undocumented students and working people who obey court orders and show up for mandated hearings, who have no blemish to their records other than they happen to be in New York City without proper documentation.
We again maintain that having ICE continue to troll courtroom hallways or streets and seize individuals who have no serious criminal records undermines ICE’s core mission to defend the country’s homeland security, and instills fear into people who just want to work and live in peace in this land of opportunity.
ICE should focus on catching the bad guys, period.
Instead of roaming the halls of immigration court in masks and body armor to take otherwise innocent people away, they ought to be working cooperatively with state and local law enforcement to get undocumented criminals off the streets of our city. They must adhere to due process of law, follow the Constitution and be transparent about their actions.
That is the path to achieving justice in New York — not intimidation tactics or scapegoating elected officials.
