Federal immigration agents have taken an alleged member of the Latin Kings back into custody after New York City authorities released him despite an active ICE detainer, according to federal officials. The man, identified by the Department of Homeland Security as Bryan David Tasiguano Leon, was first arrested by the NYPD on Feb. 14 on suspicion of assault on a first responder and has prior arrests for assault and family neglect. He now remains in ICE custody and is subject to deportation proceedings, a turn of events that has recharged the ongoing fight over the city’s sanctuary policies.
According to reporting by Fox News, DHS says Leon entered the U.S. around Nov. 11, 2022, and was issued a final order of removal on Feb. 27, 2025. The department told the outlet that ICE lodged a detainer with the NYPD before his Feb. 14 arrest, but city authorities released him anyway. ICE agents later picked him up during enforcement operations on March 4. DHS officials said Leon "remains in ICE custody pending deportation proceedings," according to the agency’s statement to Fox.
How ICE Says It Tracks and Arrests
ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations team in New York has repeatedly moved to apprehend noncitizens whom federal judges have ordered removed, often after local jurisdictions decline to honor detainers. An example ICE press release documenting prior New York arrests shows the agency routinely pursuing people with final removal orders and criminal histories as part of its interior-enforcement work. That pattern, ICE officials say, is the backdrop for targeted arrests such as the operation that brought Leon into custody.
City Response and Politics
Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who recently reaffirmed New York’s sanctuary policies, told reporters that ICE should be abolished and that the agency "delivers nothing toward the furthering of the cause of public safety," according to Fox News. City officials have argued that broad cooperation with federal immigration enforcement can erode trust, making witnesses and victims less likely to come forward. The back-and-forth highlights the political stakes as federal officials step up interior enforcement in major cities.
DHS Figures Behind the Dispute
The Department of Homeland Security has pointed to the scale of the detainer issue, saying thousands of criminal noncitizens have been released by local jails. That tally amounts to roughly 7,113 people in New York custody with active ICE detainers, according to reporting in the Washington Examiner. DHS lists a range of charges tied to that population, from homicide and assault to weapons and sexual-predatory offenses, numbers federal officials have used to argue for more cooperation on transfers.
Legal Process and Next Steps
"Detention requests include asking local jurisdictions to hold criminal foreign nationals for roughly 48 hours until ICE can pick them up," the Washington Examiner noted, and courts have at times treated detainers as requests rather than a standalone legal basis for holding someone. Leon’s case now moves through immigration removal proceedings because of the final order issued in February 2025. If the government prevails he could be deported, though advocates and lawyers point out that such cases can be legally and logistically complex. Observers say they will be watching to see how the case affects cooperation between federal and city officials going forward.
For now, Leon remains in federal custody, and immigration authorities say they will pursue removal. New York officials and immigrant-advocacy groups are expected to continue pressing the city’s position on detainers while federal agencies keep up enforcement in sanctuary jurisdictions, making this the latest test of how far local policy can, or should, limit transfers to ICE.
