Federal judge orders New York City to hand over Bronx shelter records to ICE
Illustration: Press Pass USAA federal judge has ordered New York City to comply with an Immigration and Customs Enforcement subpoena for records from a Bronx homeless shelter, rejecting the Mamdani administration's argument that the demand violates the city's sanctuary policies.
U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan issued a 12-page order on Friday, November 6, 2026, granting the federal government's petition to enforce the subpoena in the case United States v. The City of New York. The order compels the city to turn over the names and birth dates of men living at the Bruckner shelter at 825 East 141st Street in the Mott Haven section of the Bronx, so ICE can determine whether any of them are in the country unlawfully and subject to deportation.
ICE did not get the full roster. The agency agreed to a court-appointed special master who will review the shelter's records and pass along only the names of residents charged with certain serious offenses — eight listed crimes ranging from murder and rape to burglary and assault of a law enforcement officer. Kaplan wrote that the city "has not shown that producing this list would be unduly burdensome," and that, given the agency's consent to the special master, the court had "no choice but to compel the subpoena's enforcement."
"In light of the agency's consent to the use of a special master, and deferring to the agency's assessment that the records are relevant to its legitimate investigation, the Court thus concludes the subpoena concerns a matter which is material and relevant to the enforcement of the federal immigration laws," Kaplan wrote, invoking the administrative subpoena power in 8 U.S.C. § 1225(d)(4).
The city had argued that ICE was on a "fishing expedition," that the subpoena was a political effort to circumvent New York's sanctuary laws, and that compliance would be burdensome. Kaplan found no support in the record for a political motive and held that a local sanctuary law cannot override a federal court order enforcing a federal statute. The dispute began in August 2025, when ICE first demanded identifying information for male residents at two city-operated shelters; the agency narrowed its request several times before the version Kaplan ruled on, which covers only the Bruckner shelter.
The city and the Justice Department now have 14 days to submit a joint proposal for appointing and compensating the special master. A spokesperson for Mayor Zohran Mamdani said the administration is "evaluating next steps," and New York Attorney General Letitia James said her office is "reviewing the possibility of an appeal." An appeal would go to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
The ruling lands as the Mamdani administration escalates its broader standoff with federal immigration agents, and it sets a marker for other sanctuary jurisdictions: a narrowly drawn federal subpoena, enforced through a court-supervised screening process, can reach shelter intake records even where a city's own confidentiality rules would otherwise bar cooperation.
Sources: Politico, "Judge orders Mamdani administration to comply with ICE subpoena" (Nov. 6, 2026); The Washington Examiner, "Judge overrides Mamdani's objections to ICE subpoena for homeless shelter information" (Nov. 7, 2026); United States v. The City of New York, No. 25-mc-559 (S.D.N.Y.). Event date verified: the 12-page order was issued Friday, November 6, 2026.
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