On January 30, 2025, in Ithaca, New York, federal agents apprehended 27-year-old Mexican citizen Jesus Romero-Hernandez shortly after his release from the Tompkins County Jail. The arrest was carried out by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Removal Operations (ICE-ERO), with support from the U.S. Marshals Service and Homeland Security Investigations. Romero-Hernandez faces charges of illegally reentering the United States after a prior deportation. Court documents indicate that he had been deported from the United States seven times since 2016.
Romero-Hernandez had been in local custody since September 28, 2023, following an incident in the now-cleared Jungle 1 off Cecil Malone Drive, one of a series of homeless encampments collectively referred to as the “Jungle.” According to the Tompkins County Sheriff’s Office, deputies attempted to arrest him on an active felony warrant. During the encounter, Romero-Hernandez allegedly resisted arrest, attempting to place a deputy in a chokehold before being subdued and taken into custody. He was subsequently charged with second-degree assault, resisting arrest, criminal obstruction of breathing, and fourth-degree criminal mischief. The “Jungle” encampment behind Wal-Mart was reportedly one of the areas visited by immigration authorities during their search for Hernandez, who was taken into custody outside of the Department of Social Services on State Street.
Inmate records reported by the Ithaca Voice show that Romero-Hernandez had been in custody in the Tompkins County Jail since his September 28, 2023, arrest and was released from local custody on Tuesday night following a guilty plea and a sentence of time served. On January 8, 2025, during the Biden administration, a federal criminal complaint was filed against Romero-Hernandez for illegal reentry into the United States after deportation. Despite a federal arrest warrant, the Tompkins County Sheriff’s Office released him upon completing his local sentence. This decision drew criticism from the Department of Justice, with Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove stating that the U.S. attorney’s office in Syracuse would “investigate these circumstances for potential prosecution.” Both the City of Ithaca and Tompkins County have “sanctuary” policies that limit cooperation with federal immigration authorities.
The circumstances of Hernandez’s release were disputed by the Tompkins County Sheriff’s Department, as detailed in an 14850.com report. “Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) knew exactly when the individual in question was going to be released and had every opportunity to come to the Tompkins County Jail to obtain the individual in question without any need for a pursuit or other incident,” the department said in a statement. “The Sheriff and his staff acted consistently with New York State law and judicial decisions, County policy, guidance from the New York Attorney General’s Office, and guidance from the New York State Sheriffs’ Association. There was no interference with federal immigration enforcement efforts.”
An Ithaca Voice report on Tompkins County’s Public Safety For All resolution (the county’s “sanctuary” policy) states that “county officers or agents should honor detainer requests from federal agents in certain circumstances when there is a judicial warrant. It also says a person may be detained for up to 48 hours on a ‘civil immigration detainer’ without a judicial warrant if the person has illegally re-entered the country after a previous removal and has been convicted of a ‘violent or serious’ crime.”
Romero-Hernandez is now being held at the Oneida County Jail, awaiting a detention hearing scheduled for next week.
This arrest by federal authorities was the focus of a rally and protest on the Ithaca Commons on Sunday, February 2. Chants opposing ICE accompanied signs reading “Eat The Rich” and “Compassion ≠ Lawlessness.” Approximately 300 people attended the demonstration. Following the rally, an individual was shoved and verbally accosted by a masked protester, who told him to “get the fuck out” of the Commons and called him a “Nazi motherfucker.” It is unclear what prompted this altercation. The Commons is a public space accessible to all.
CORRECTION: A previous version of this article stated that a federal criminal complaint was filed against Romero-Hernandez on January 8, 2024. It was January 8, 2025. The article has been updated to reflect this.