By JAKE OFFENHARTZ
Police in New York Metropolis are investigating whether or not the division violated coverage by sharing a report with federal immigration authorities that included inner information of a Palestinian lady’s arrest at a protest.
The division probe follows reporting by The Related Press on the cooperation between the NYPD and President Trump’s administration, which is searching for to deport Leqaa Kordia, a Palestinian resident of New Jersey, as a part of its widening crackdown on noncitizens who participated in protests towards the battle in Gaza.
The report shared by police with the federal authorities included Kordia’s identify, deal with and birthday, in addition to an NYPD officer’s two-sentence abstract of her arrest for protesting exterior Columbia College final spring.
That cost — a summons for disorderly conduct — was dismissed and the case sealed, which means it mustn’t have been accessible for legislation enforcement functions, in line with authorized specialists.
“How it is that summons information was provided that is associated with a sealed arrest is what we are looking into now,” town’s police commissioner, Jessica Tisch, mentioned Tuesday in response to the AP’s questions. “This is under internal investigation and review.”
Kordia, 32, was detained throughout a March 13 check-in with immigration officers in Newark, then despatched to an immigration jail in Texas, the place she stays. The U.S. Division of Homeland Safety introduced her arrest the next day, citing an expired visa and her function in “pro-Hamas protests.”
The four-page NYPD report on Kordia was generated the identical day and is now getting used as proof by the federal authorities in its bid to deport her.
“We still don’t know how she became the focus of the Department of Homeland Security,” mentioned Arthur In the past, an lawyer for Kordia. “If they did get information from the NYPD about a sealed citation that was dismissed in the interest of justice, that would be highly disturbing.”
Beneath metropolis legislation, police are usually prohibited from aiding federal authorities in civil immigration enforcement, although there are exceptions for legal investigations.
Tisch mentioned the division obtained a request from Homeland Safety Investigations, a division of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, as a part of a legal investigation into Kordia.
“The member said they were seeking information on this person related to a money laundering investigation, and that is fairly standard for us, so the information was provided,” Tisch mentioned. “That was all done according to procedure.”
Kordia’s lawyer mentioned he was not conscious of any investigation associated to cash laundering.
In Kordia’s immigration case, the federal authorities has referenced each her previous arrest at Columbia and a $1,000 cost that she made to a relative as proof of her potential dangerousness, the lawyer mentioned.
“They keep hinting and insinuating some sort of nefarious action by Ms. Kordia in terms of just sending money to family in Palestine,” In the past added. “There’s nothing there. Sending money home to a relative is what immigrants do in this country.”
A spokesperson for DHS mentioned Kordia was taken into custody for immigration violations, however wouldn’t say if she was dealing with legal investigation.
Initially Revealed: Could 6, 2025 at 4:55 PM EDT
