At the end of this we have added Fact-checks from ChatGPT 5.1 and Grok Expert
In April 2025, the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS) held 32,469 incarcerated individuals. By November 2025, New York’s jails held another 18,334 people. As of November 29, 2025, New York City’s jails held approximately 6,995 individuals, and this figure is included in the statewide jail count. Altogether, the prison and jail systems held roughly 50,803 people.
Tricia McLaughlin, Assistant Secretary at the Department of Homeland Security, stated on Fox News (in the interview referenced above) that 7,169 of these individuals were illegal aliens. That figure represents 14.1% of the incarcerated population. Because New York state does not actively assist in identifying immigration status, this estimate is likely conservative. Another source places the number of incarcerated illegal aliens slightly lower, at 7,113, which equals 14.0% of the total.
UPDATE: By comparison, estimates suggest that New York has between 676,000 (2025 estimate) to 825,000 (2023 estimate) illegal aliens within a total population of 19.99 million. That range means illegal aliens make up only 3.38% to 4.15% of the state’s population. Thus, they are overrepresented in the prison and jail population by a factor of approximately 3.4 to 4.2.
There is yet another reason for these numbers to underestimate the number of illegal alien criminals. In early 2025, for example, about half of the individuals ICE highlighted in enforcement actions were already incarcerated at the time of their arrest. This practice skews crime data by underrepresenting illegal aliens in prison population statistics. In a state such as New York where law enforcement refuses to assist ICE this might not be a significant bias, but even in New York City alone, ICE has made about 460 arrests from mid-May through July this year that “likely took place on the same day as a court hearing.”
It is plausible that population estimates undercount the number of illegal aliens. However, even if the true number were two to three times higher, illegal aliens would still remain overrepresented in New York’s prison and jail system.
“Today in New York jails are 7,169 criminal illegal aliens, we are talking about hundreds of murders, hundreds of sexual predators, drugs traffickers, the worst of the worst.” — Tricia McLaughlin, Assistant Secretary, Department of Homeland Security, Fox News, December 2, 2025 (see the video above).
This included: “Currently, 7,113 aliens are locked up in New York with active detainers — and ICE is demanding that New York state turn them over. They are responsible for a combined 148 homicides, 717 assaults, 134 burglaries, 106 robberies, 235 dangerous drug offenses, 152 weapons offenses and 260 sexual predatory offenses.”
For the 6,947 released, see here.
New York’s failure to honor ICE detainers has resulted in the release of 6,947 criminal illegal aliens since January 20. The crimes of these aliens include 29 homicides, 2,509 assaults, 199 burglaries, 305 robberies, 392 dangerous drugs offenses, 300 weapons offenses, and 207 sexual predatory offenses.
There are currently 7,113 aliens in the custody of a New York jurisdiction with an active detainer. The crimes of these aliens include 148 homicides, 717 assaults, 134 burglaries, 106 robberies, 235 dangerous drugs offenses, 152 weapons offenses, and 260 sexual predatory offenses.
The annual cost of housing someone in the New York state prison system is $115,000 and in the county/local jails is $82,000 outside of New York City. Within New York City the jail costs are an incredible $556,000 per year. We don’t know how many of these illegals are in the prison or jail systems, but ignoring the costs of housing inmates in New York City, with 7,169 illegals the estimated cost would range between $588 million (ignoring the costs of New York City jail) and $824 million. With 7,113 illegals, the estimated cost would range between $583 million (ignoring the costs of New York City jail) and $818 million. The cost of housing inmates in New York City jail system is $556,000/year. Given that about 45 to 50% of the total county/local jail population in the state is in New York City (see here and here for sources), the average per inmate jail costs could be as high as $319,000 per year. If so, the total incarceration costs could be as high as over $2.29 billion. A conservative estimate of housing criminal illegal aliens in New York State is thus well over $1 billion per year. If we assume that half of the illegals are in the state prison system and half of the illegals in jails are in the New York City jail system, the total costs are $1.428 billion ($412 million for the state prison system plus $1.016 billion for the state jail system, mainly due to the high costs in New York City).
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