New York's top elected legal officials offered no comment when pressed regarding a congressional investigation's claims that they instructed staff to downgrade charges against undocumented immigrants to prevent their deportation. State Attorney General Letitia James, Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz, and Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez were questioned about the allegations during a press conference on gun safety measures.
A reporter asked the officials if they had ordered prosecutors to downgrade gun charges to keep undocumented immigrants in the United States, referencing a recent House Judiciary Committee report. The question was posed within the context of gun safety, a topic relevant to the press conference.
James, Katz, and Gonzalez responded with silence and blank expressions, with Katz making a shrug gesture. When the reporter rephrased the question, emphasizing the gun safety angle, Katz responded vaguely, "Our answer couldn't help it," before the press conference was moved along to other on-topic questions.
Following the event, the officials continued to avoid direct responses. James offered a smile without comment when asked again, and Katz deferred to her spokesperson. The Post reported that the officials’ evasiveness came shortly after the release of the House Judiciary Committee report.
The report alleges that Democratic District Attorneys in New York City directed their staff to exercise caution with charges against undocumented immigrants. Specifically, it claims Katz advised her staff to "not get caught up in the label of [f]elonies, [m]isdemeanors." The investigation also accuses Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark of instructing staff to follow "immigration-conscious plea bargaining" and to "offer something that does not have the child’s age as an element of the crime" in child sex abuse cases, aiming to avoid deportation triggers.