Audit: ICE Entered NYC Hospitals, City Buildings

Mayor Zohran Mamdani on May 22 released a city audit that documented Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers entering New York City hospitals, shelters and other municipal facilities as federal immigration arrests rose across the five boroughs. The report said ICE made 5,567 arrests in the New York City area between Jan. 20, 2025, and March 10, 2026, a 71% increase from the comparable stretch at the end of the previous administration. City agencies said they would rewrite protocols, tighten access rules and expand staff training after the review found repeated attempts by federal officers to gain entry without judicial warrants. Advocates said the findings showed how federal enforcement tactics were testing New York’s sanctuary laws. ### Where did the audit come from? Executive Order 13, signed by Mamdani on Feb. 6, 2026, required a citywide audit of how agencies handle interactions with federal immigration authorities. The order said city property, including shelters and schools, cannot be accessed by non-local law enforcement without a judicial warrant except in emergencies or when authorized by city personnel. The May 22 report compiled findings and recommendations from the Administration for Children’s Services, the Department of Correction, the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, the Department of Probation, the Department of Social Services, the New York City Police Department and NYC Health + Hospitals. New York City Public Schools conducted a separate internal review outside the formal audit process, the mayor’s office said. (nyc.gov) ### What did the city say ICE officers were doing inside public buildings? A February 2025 incident described in the audit involved seven masked and armed ICE agents pushing past homeless shelter staff to detain a resident, according to reporting that cited the city’s executive summary. Another incident involved agents asking to use a bathroom at a Department of Probation site and then trying to inspect the sign-in book. In a separate June 2025 episode, Homeland Security officers misrepresented themselves as Fire Department personnel, the same reporting said. (nyc.gov) Gothamist reported in December 2025 that federal immigration officers visited city shelters at least 23 times between January and May of that year after no appearances in all of 2024. Shelter incident reports reviewed by Gothamist showed officers entered private areas or obtained resident information without presenting judicial warrants in at least five cases, and the Department of Social Services later said clearer guidance had been distributed to staff. (documentedny.com) The city’s audit also found ICE officers used deceptive tactics while pursuing arrests, according to the mayor’s report and contemporaneous coverage. Those tactics included pretending to be firefighters, asking to use a bathroom to gain access to buildings and attempting a “wellness check” on a minor in Administration for Children’s Services custody, the Daily News reported, citing the audit. (gothamist.com) ### How large was the enforcement increase? The city’s May 22 report said ICE arrested 5,567 people in the New York City area from Jan. 20, 2025, through March 10, 2026. The report said that was 71% higher than the same number of days at the end of the previous administration, and that more than half of those arrests occurred at immigration court at 26 Federal Plaza. (nyc.gov) The New York Immigration Coalition said the audit also showed a sharp rise in detainer activity. According to the group’s summary of the report, the Department of Correction saw a 120% increase in detainer requests in 2025 compared with 2024, while NYPD detainer requests rose from 99 in fiscal 2024 to 3,627 in fiscal 2025. Documented separately reported that NYPD officers received 3,600% more requests to hold suspects for immigration agents in 2025 than in the previous year. (nyc.gov) ### Which city agencies changed their rules? The Department of Correction will stop sending ICE daily reports on noncitizens in custody with certain violent or serious convictions, according to the audit summary cited by the Daily News. The report said that practice had been in place since 2015 and was not required by law or regulation. (nyic.org) The Department of Social Services was directed to revise protocols governing who can access city property and shelters, and the NYPD was told to establish procedures for notifying senior officials and legal staff when 911 calls report ICE activity on city streets, according to the same report. The mayor’s office said agencies would implement the recommendations in the coming months. (yahoo.com) ### What are advocates and city officials saying now? Faiza Ali, commissioner of the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs, said the findings and recommendations would strengthen agency protocols and help ensure New Yorkers can safely access city services regardless of immigration status. Mamdani said the audit was intended to reinforce compliance with local law and city protections for immigrant communities. (yahoo.com) Murad Awawdeh, president and chief executive of the New York Immigration Coalition, said sanctuary protections are only as strong as their implementation and called on the City Council to pass legislation creating stronger accountability when the rules are violated. His group said the audit showed “aggressive” ICE tactics and loopholes in current protections. (nyc.gov) May 22 is the key date for the next phase: that is when the city published the audit and said agencies would begin carrying out its recommendations. The implementation work will run through the coming months under Executive Order 13, with the mayor’s office, the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs and the interagency committee overseeing changes to agency protocols. (nyc.gov) (nyic.org)