An NYPD sergeant has been charged with posing as a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) field director and ordering a victim and their family to turn themselves in at an ICE location.
At an arraignment on Tuesday at the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, Atickul Islam, 29, pleaded not guilty to a single charge of personation of a federal officer and was released on an unsecured, $25,000 recognizance bond.
Defense attorney John Arlia, who appeared for Islam, told U.S. Magistrate Judge Taryn Merkel that the NYPD suspended his client without pay and seized his badge and service weapon.
According to court papers, Islam, who also uses the alias “John W. Anderson,” allegedly contacted a person identified in court papers as “Victim 1” and identified himself as an ICE field director. Islam directed the victim and their family to report to ICE by April 15, per court documents.
The exact location of the alleged offense is not provided in publicly available court documents, though one filing states that it occurred in Queens.
Merkel also granted a request by federal prosecutors to order Islam to stay away from the block where the victim resides.
Islam did not respond to reporters’ questions as he left the courtroom. According to NYPD records, he is assigned to Police Service Area 3, which patrols housing projects in Bushwick.
Arlia said that Islam is “absolutely adamant about fighting these charges.”
Migrant advocacy group LatinoJustice issued a statement Tuesday regarding Islam’s arrest.
“Impersonating a federal agent to order someone from our immigrant community to report to an ICE facility is an egregious abuse of power that shatters public trust and threatens our community’s safety,” Rex Chen, supervising counsel for
