According to the New York Post, New York Attorney General Letitia James and the Queens and Brooklyn district attorneys did not answer questions about a House Judiciary Committee report at a gun-related press conference on Thursday, the 29th. The report claims New York City district attorneys told staff to reduce charges against undocumented immigrants to help them avoid deportation. The Queens District Attorney's Office said it has never given lenient treatment to defendants in gun cases.
According to the New York Post, New York Attorney General Letitia James, Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz and Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez did not answer questions about a House Judiciary Committee report at a gun safety press conference on Thursday, the 29th. The report claims New York City district attorneys instructed staff to reduce charges so that undocumented immigrants would not be deported. NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch also took part in the press conference.
The press conference was held at 1 Police Plaza in Manhattan to announce the results of gun seizures. When a Post reporter asked whether prosecutors had ever been told to reduce gun charges so undocumented immigrants could stay in the U.S., the district attorneys laughed or only blinked, and Katz shrugged. Another attendee then asked for "other questions related to the topic," and the press conference wrapped up. When asked the same question again after the event, James smiled without saying a word, and Katz passed the question to her spokesperson.
The report is the product of an investigation by the Republican-led House Judiciary Committee, which the Post reported first a few days earlier. According to internal office communications cited in the report, Katz told prosecutors to be "extremely careful" in cases involving undocumented immigrants and not to be bound by classifications of felony or misdemeanor. The report also claims that Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark had prosecutors negotiate sentences that took "immigration status into account" even in child sex crime cases, and instructed them to offer charges that do not include the victim's age as an element of the crime.
After the press conference, Katz's spokesperson contacted the Post and said the office has never given lenient treatment to any defendant charged with a gun crime. The spokesperson said, "Defendants with illegal firearms are charged with the highest counts the law allows." This response concerned gun crimes, so the original article does not include the office's position on the other types of cases the report points to. An official position from Attorney General James or from District Attorneys Gonzalez and Clark is also not confirmed in the original article.
Queens, home to Flushing and Bayside, falls under Katz's jurisdiction. However, these are allegations from the House Republican-led investigation, and the original article does not say in which cases, if any, charges were actually adjusted.