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BROOKLYN, N.Y. – New York City’s top immigration enforcement official has a blunt message for far-left politicians demanding the abolition of ICE: Change the law instead of demonizing federal agents who put their lives on the line enforcing it.
Kenneth Genalo, who leads ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) in New York City, issued the challenge during an exclusive interview with Digital, taking aim at elected officials who have increasingly called to dismantle the agency.
“If you don’t like the job we’re doing and the priorities and the people that we’re targeting, change the law,” Genalo said. “Congressional people, senators, representatives. Change the law, don’t demonize ICE for doing the job that you empowered us to do.”
The remarks came during a recent Digital ride-along with ICE in Brooklyn, where agents arrested two men, including one facing a pending felony sexual abuse charge, and another who had served seven years in prison for assault, according to ICE.
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Kenneth Genalo, ICE’s top New York City enforcement official, reviews operational information inside an unmarked SUV during an exclusive Digital ride-along in Brooklyn on Oct. 29, 2026. ( Digital)
Growing calls to abolish ICE
Genalo’s rebuke comes amid a widening campaign to abolish ICE and increasingly heated rhetoric directed at federal immigration agents.
In July, no less than 143 New York elected officials, including 31 of the city’s 51 Council members, signed a letter urging congressional Democrats to dismantle the agency, accusing ICE of widespread abuses and portraying it as a threat to public safety and democracy.
The signatories argued that ICE could no longer be reformed and urged congressional Democrats to defund and dismantle it. They also cited the fatal shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by federal immigration enforcement officers in Minneapolis as evidence of what they described as the agency’s disregard for public safety.
Among the signatories was newly elected New York Democrat Claire Valdez, who has also made abolishing ICE part of her congressional platform. New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., have also separately called for dismantling the agency.
Genalo blamed inflammatory political rhetoric for emboldening anti-ICE protesters and escalating tensions during enforcement operations.
He questioned why activists would interfere with arrests without knowing the criminal histories of those being targeted, pointing to an operation during the Brooklyn ride-along in which protesters disrupted ICE agents attempting to apprehend an Ecuadorian national facing child sexual abuse charges, according to ICE.
“Why would you protest that we’re trying to arrest this individual?” he asked.
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New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani endorsed state Assembly Member Claire Valdez in the Democratic primary for New York’s 7th Congressional District. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images;Erik McGregor/LightRocket via Getty Images)
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For Genalo, the increasingly hostile rhetoric overlooks the people behind the badges — officers enforcing laws enacted by Congress while confronting potentially dangerous suspects and protesters.
“We’re mothers, we’re fathers, we are brothers, we have sisters, sons and daughters, and we’re doing our job,” he said.
The Brooklyn-born, 34-year law enforcement veteran argued that politicians were vilifying agents for carrying out their duties, even as restrictions on local cooperation force ICE to pursue suspects on public streets rather than take them into custody in secure jails.
Genalo said such encounters expose officers, suspects and bystanders to dangers that could be avoided through cooperation with local authorities.
During the Brooklyn ride-along, Genalo said both men arrested had previously been in local custody but were released despite ICE detainer requests.
“Abolish ICE” has been a popular slogan among progressive activists. (Erik McGregor/LightRocket via Getty Images)
ICE agents restrain Haitian national Yves Frantz Augustine during an arrest on a Brooklyn sidewalk on Oct. 29, 2026. Augustine, who ICE says has a criminal record and a longstanding deportation order, resisted being handcuffed. ( Digital)
A warning rooted in 9/11
Genalo’s concerns about the breakdown in cooperation drew on his experience responding to one of the darkest days in New York’s history.
The veteran official recalled being deployed to ground zero after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, warning that New York was forgetting lessons about the importance of cooperation between federal and local law enforcement.
“I go back to 9/11, I do it all the time because I was there, I was deployed, SRT, I was down at ground zero,” he recalled.
Responders work to clear rubble at ground zero in New York City on Oct. 8, 2001. (Ken Tregellas)
He cited the 9/11 Commission’s findings about failures in cooperation and intelligence sharing, drawing a parallel to the restrictions ICE faces today.
“We should be standing arm-in-arm with our NYPD brethren, helping the city,” Genalo said, recalling a time when ICE worked more closely with local authorities.
The agency once maintained a dedicated unit at Rikers Island that reviewed the immigration status of foreign-born inmates before their release, Genalo said. Agents took more than 100 people a week into federal custody through the arrangement, which he blamed former Mayor Bill de Blasio for ending.
Genalo said former Mayor Eric Adams later tried to restore cooperation, but faced City Council restrictions.
ICE agents escort Georgian national Nika Tkeshelashvili, 40, following his arrest on a Brooklyn street on Oct. 29, 2026. ICE said he entered the U.S. illegally in 2023 and later faced a felony sexual abuse charge that remains pending. ( Digital)
New York’s escalating ICE showdown
The political confrontation with ICE has since intensified under Mamdani.
On Nov. 2, Mamdani threatened legal action over ICE’s alleged unauthorized use of city-owned parking lots in a letter addressed directly to Genalo and other federal officials.
Genalo had criticized the mayor’s efforts to discourage private businesses from allowing ICE agents to use their parking facilities during the Digital interview, four days before the letter was issued.
DHS rejected the mayor’s position in a statement to Digital on Saturday.
“Mayor Mamdani should be grateful to our brave law enforcement officers for cleaning up the streets of NYC since he won’t. Luckily, no terminated parking will stop ICE from deporting criminal illegal aliens to make New York safe again,” a DHS spokesperson said. “We need New York to cooperate with our officers and stop RELEASING criminals from their jails into New York’s neighborhoods. Seven of the 10 safest cities in America cooperate with ICE.”
DHS also provided Digital with examples of migrants it identified as public safety threats arrested in New York City, including individuals it said had convictions for sexual assault, weapons offenses and robbery.
The confrontation with ICE has also extended to the state level.
On Nov. 6, Gov. Kathy Hochul and Attorney General Letitia James reminded local governments of a Nov. 25 deadline to terminate agreements allowing their facilities to hold people solely for federal civil immigration detention under the Local Cops, Local Crimes Act.
On Nov. 6, Gov. Kathy Hochul and Attorney General Letitia James reminded local governments of a Nov. 25 deadline to terminate agreements allowing their facilities to hold people solely for federal civil immigration detention under the Local Cops, Local Crimes Act. (Michael Nagle/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Genalo criticized the legislation, arguing that it would extend restrictions on ICE cooperation beyond New York City to the rest of the state.
He also challenged city leaders to put cooperation with ICE on the ballot and let New Yorkers decide for themselves — a demand that takes on added significance given the 31 City Council members who signed the abolition letter.
But Genalo said the City Council had refused to put the question before voters.
“The city council voted no, they didn’t want to do that. I wonder why,” he said.
For Genalo, the growing political opposition reflects what he described as a fundamental misunderstanding of ICE’s mission and the officers carrying it out.
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He argued that immigration enforcement has continued under successive administrations, but the rhetoric directed at agents has become increasingly hostile, with politicians and the media vilifying officers rather than acknowledging the work they do.
“They don’t realize the ramifications that their verbiage has,” Genalo said.
“But instead we’re getting demonized by politicians, by congressional people, by mayors, by governors, by the media.”
