ICE sues over Qns. slay susp
City ignored detainer, feds say
The federal government is suing the city for information about an undocumented immigrant accused of sexually abusing and murdering a 92-year-old woman in Queens last month.
The feds on Monday asked a judge to force the city to provide documents related to 21-year-old Reeaz Khan of Guyana, who is accused of killing Maria Fuertes on Jan. 10, including his criminal history. ICE had been trying to deport Khan for months before the crime — with the city providing no help.
“This information is needed to assist in determining whether Khan is removable … and whether he is subject to detention,” the Brooklyn U.S. attorney’s office wrote in court papers.
The city does not categorically deny ICE’s requests for information, but reviews them on a case-bycase basis, according to a City Hall spokeswoman.
ICE issued a detainer for Khan to the NYPD in November after he was arrested for assaulting his father and criminal possession of a weapon, asking that the city notify the agency if and when he was released. Khan had already overstayed his visitor’s visa, which expired in March 2017, according to federal prosecutors.
”Despite ICE’s request for a detainer, Khan was released on his own recognizance without notification to ICE,” the petition reads.
Six weeks later, Khan allegedly strangled Fuertes to death in South Richmond Hill. He was caught on surveillance video at the scene of the crime and identified by his own brother.
ICE officials blamed New York’s sanctuary city policy for Fuertes’ death. Days after the murder, Thomas
Decker, field office director for ICE removal operations, said, “Clearly, the politicians care more about criminal illegal aliens than the citizens they are elected to serve and protect.
“It was a deadly choice to release a man on an active ICE detainer back on the streets, and now he faces new charges, including murder.”
The NYPD denied it received an ICE detainer after
Khan’s first assault.
“ICE is clearly attempting to exploit tragic circumstances in order to intimidate the City of New York into changing its laws and policies, but our city is the safest big city in the nation because of those policies,” said Julia Arredondo, a City Hall spokeswoman, about the petition filed Monday.
Arredondo said that if Khan is convicted, he will be turned over to federal authorities.
“We have grave concerns that these subpoenas lack a legitimate purpose, and are instead a political stunt intended to intimidate the City of New York,” the city’s Law Department wrote in a letter to federal prosecutors on Friday, before the federal government filed its petition.
Khan is being held on Rikers Island without bail pending his trial.