House Republicans go after Queens DA for refusal to hand over records
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The House Judiciary Committee reiterated requests for documents from Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz related to her prosecutions under sanctuary laws. Eagle file photo by Noah Powelson
By Ryan Schwach
The Republican-led House Judiciary Committee is singling out Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz for her refusal to hand over documents related to prosecutions under sanctuary laws.
In May, the committee – which has targeted sanctuary policies in states across the country – sent a letter to Katz, asking for records regarding her office’s “preferential treatment of criminal aliens to ensure that they do not face immigration consequences for their criminality.”
The World’s Borough DA responded with a letter in June, declining to hand over any materials to the committee.
“Local decisions to prosecute, or to choose not to prosecute, particular crimes of specific individuals under state law are not province of the federal government,” she said in her June 10 response which was cited by the committee in a new letter sent to her on Monday. She also cited the Tenth Amendment, which protects state authority.
House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan and California Representative Tom McClintock – who chairs the Subcommittee on Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement – disagreed with her response, saying her arguments “lack a legal foundation.”
“We reject those arguments and reiterate our request for your cooperation,” they said in their new letter. “The Committee’s request for records is lawful, appropriate, and is not dependent on your office’s policy preferences.”
Similar letters were sent in May to New York City’s other four county DA’s, but Katz is the only local one who received a new letter reiterating the committee’s request.
The committee told Katz to provide the requested materials by Sept. 7 or it “may be forced to resort to compulsory process.”
Katz’s office did not return requests for comment.
House Republicans have repeatedly challenged sanctuary policies in New York since President Donald Trump began his second term in office last year.
The letters sent to the five city DA’s in May also coincided with probes directed at NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch and Department of Corrections Commissioner Stanley Richards over their alleged lack of cooperation with Trump’s immigration policies.
Locals in Queens have pushed against the president’s heavy-handed immigration policies amid an uptick of detentions in the borough.
“It's about cleansing,” Queens Assemblymember Catalina Cruz said at a rally earlier this month. “It is about cleansing our communities of the immigrant power and love that they're so afraid of.”
On Tuesday, Governor Kathy Hochul reiterated New York’s policy regarding cooperation with federal immigration enforcement.
“Here in New York, we need local police focused on keeping our communities safe—not serving as de-facto ICE agents, not conducting civil immigration enforcement, and not carrying out the Trump Administration’s callous immigration agenda,” Hochul said.
