There are over 58,000 illegal migrants who are convicted felons or facing criminal charges roaming NYC — and close to 670,000 across the country, startling new data obtained by The Post shows.
Of the 759,218 illegal-border crossers living in the Big Apple the feds were aware of as of Nov. 17, a jaw-dropping 58,626 – 7.7% — were either previously convicted of crimes or had criminal charges pending, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency data.
And of the 58,626 migrants with rap sheets, 1,053, nearly 2%, are “suspected or known gang members,” according to the agency.
“These numbers make it clear what everyone but our elected officials already know: sanctuary city laws are endangering New Yorkers by shielding criminals instead of protecting law-abiding citizens,” said Councilman Robert Holden, a moderate Queens Democrat.
Nationwide, the numbers are just as galling.
Of The nearly 7.8 million illegal immigrants in the United States, 662,586 – or 8.6% — are convicted criminals or have charges pending, according to ICE data through July 21. It’s unclear how many are suspected gang members.
Kenneth Genalo, who heads the ICE’s New York City office, told The Post last week he’s hoping to get additional resources to weed out criminal migrants.
Last week, he estimated the number of migrants criminals to be in the thousands in The Post’s exclusive front-page story, while saying he’s “frustrated” over how New York’s sanctuary laws have prevented many of them from being rounded up and deported under his watch.
“In New York City, it would take a lifetime to clear the city of the criminals that we have” if the status quo remains the same, said Genalo in his first interview since Donald Trump was elected president.
More than 223,000 migrants alone have poured into the Big Apple since the immigration crisis began in the spring of 2022 — and at least 58,000 are still being cared for by taxpayers in city-funded shelters.
Council Minority Leader Joe Borelli (R-Staten Island) said he’s “shocked and appalled, but not surprised” by the newly released data.
“What does any criminal do?” Borelli said. “They run away to somewhere else.”
He pointed blame at the Biden administration’s weak border-control policies.
“The Democratic Party, top to bottom, is responsible for every single one of these criminals and should be financially responsible to compensate crime victims,” he said.
In 2014, then-Mayor Bill de Blasio teamed up with the Council and signed a bill into law barring the NYPD from working with federal immigration officials when they’re seeking to boot dangerous migrants from the US.
Then, in 2018, the avowed Marxist took it a step further by issuing citywide guidance and new NYPD protocols to codify the Big Apple’s policy of not cooperating with the feds.
The revisions have had serious consequences. Murdered Georgia nursing student Laken Riley, who was murdered by an illegal migrant who had been in custody in NYC on child-endangerment charges but set free, might still be alive if the woke rules were not in effect, critics have told The Post.
Both Holden and Borelli co-sponsored legislation in June to repeal migrant-friendly sanctuary laws that limit NYC law enforcement’s ability to cooperate with the feds on immigration matters, but it stalled before Councils far-left majority.
Mayor Eric Adams has repeatedly called for the sanctuary rules to be loosened so migrants “suspected” of “serious” crimes could also be turned over to ICE. He’s also insisted he doesn’t have the political support needed on the City Council to change the laws.
However, Holden isn’t buying the matter is totally out of the mayor’s hands.
The pol on Friday insisted “City Hall refuses to take action,” pointing blame at an Adams-appointed Charter Revision Commission that snubbed requests by him, Borelli and other like-minded pols and citizens over the summer to have voters decide the matter through a ballot question.
The commission by law is supposed to make its decisions independently based on input from New Yorkers, including elected officials.
Holden last week also wrote a letter to Mayor Eric Adams, Gov. Kathy Hochul, Council Speaker Adrienne Adams and state Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie to back the stalled bill but said as of Friday he’s not received any responses.
“Mayor Adams has repeatedly said that while we will continue to respect our city’s sanctuary laws, we must also have a serious conversation about the small number of individuals who repeatedly commit violent crimes in our city and the consequences they face,” said mayoral spokesperson Kayla Mamelak.
“We must also fix this nation’s unsuccessful border policies that have led us to this place.”