New York City’s senior immigration enforcement official is urging politicians who want to abolish ICE to change the law rather than vilify the agents tasked with enforcing it.
Kenneth Genalo, who heads ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations in New York City, made the case during an interview as calls to dismantle the agency have grown louder.
“If you don’t like the job we’re doing, our priorities or the people we’re targeting, change the law,” Genalo said. He argued that lawmakers should not condemn ICE for carrying out the authority Congress gave it.
His comments followed a ride-along with ICE agents in Brooklyn, where officers arrested two men. ICE said one was facing a pending felony sexual abuse charge, while the other had served seven years in prison for assault.
In July, 143 New York elected officials, including 31 members of the City Council, signed a letter asking congressional Democrats to abolish ICE. They said the agency could not be reformed and accused it of widespread abuses and posing a danger to public safety and democracy. The letter also pointed to the fatal shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by federal immigration officers in Minneapolis.
Among those who signed was newly elected New York Democrat Claire Valdez, who has made abolishing ICE part of her congressional platform. Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez have also called for the agency to be dismantled.
Genalo said heated political language can encourage protesters to confront agents and raise tensions during enforcement operations. He questioned why people would try to disrupt an arrest without knowing the person’s history. During the Brooklyn operation, protesters interfered as agents tried to arrest an Ecuadorian national facing child sexual abuse charges, ICE said.
“Why would you protest that we’re trying to arrest this individual?” Genalo asked.
He said the public debate often ignores that ICE officers are people with families who are doing a difficult job. Genalo, a Brooklyn native and 34-year law enforcement veteran, also argued that limits on cooperation with local authorities can force agents to pursue suspects in public places instead of taking custody of them in secure jails.
That, he said, creates avoidable risks for officers, suspects and bystanders. Genalo said the two men arrested during the ride-along had both previously been held by local authorities and released despite ICE detainer requests.
Genalo recalled being sent to Ground Zero after the Sept. 11 attacks, saying the experience shaped his views on cooperation between federal and local law enforcement. He cited the 9/11 Commission’s findings about failures in coordination and intelligence sharing, and warned against repeating those mistakes.
“We should be standing arm-in-arm with our NYPD brethren, helping the city,” he said, describing a period when ICE worked more closely with local authorities.
ICE once had a dedicated unit at Rikers Island that checked the immigration status of foreign-born inmates before their release, Genalo said. He said the arrangement led to more than 100 people a week being transferred to federal custody, and blamed former Mayor Bill de Blasio for ending it. Former Mayor Eric Adams later tried to restore cooperation, Genalo said, but faced restrictions from the City Council.
The dispute has sharpened under Mamdani. On Nov. 2, the mayor threatened legal action over ICE’s alleged use of city-owned parking lots without authorization, addressing a letter to Genalo and other federal officials. Genalo had criticized Mamdani’s efforts to discourage private businesses from letting ICE use their parking facilities four days earlier.
The Department of Homeland Security rejected the mayor’s position, saying ICE would continue its work and calling on New York to cooperate with federal officers rather than release people it described as criminal offenders back into neighborhoods. The department also cited cases of migrants arrested in the city whom it said had convictions for sexual assault, weapons offenses and robbery.
The disagreement has reached the state level as well. On Nov. 6, Gov. Kathy Hochul and Attorney General Letitia James reminded local governments that they had until Nov. 25 to end agreements allowing their facilities to hold people solely for federal civil immigration detention under the Local Cops, Local Crimes Act.
Genalo criticized the law, saying it would extend limits on cooperation with ICE beyond New York City. He also challenged city leaders to put the issue to a public vote, arguing that New Yorkers should decide whether local authorities cooperate with the agency. The City Council rejected the proposal, he said.
“The City Council voted no. They didn’t want to do that. I wonder why,” Genalo said.
He said immigration enforcement has continued under successive administrations, but that public rhetoric toward agents has become more hostile. In his view, politicians and media figures do not fully consider the consequences of their words.
“They don’t realize the ramifications that their verbiage has,” Genalo said, adding that agents are being demonized by elected officials and the media.
