Donald Trump’s incoming “border tsar” has accused New York’s governor of making the city a “sanctuary” for illegal immigrants after a sleeping woman was set alight on a subway train.
The culprit, reportedly an illegal immigrant from Guatemala, is alleged to have set the victim’s clothes on fire before crossing to a platform bench to watch as she was engulfed in flames.
Critics have blamed Kathy Hochul for what appeared to be an unprovoked attack, claiming she had turned New York into a “sanctuary state” for illegal migrants by blocking cooperation with immigration enforcement.
In the hours after the incident, the New York governor compounded public outrage by touting her achievements in improving safety on the subway system.
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Tom Homan, who will enter Mr Trump’s administration in January 2025 as his “border tsar”, hit out at Ms Hochul for her approach on illegal migration.
“ICE [immigration and customs enforcement] has its hands tied… Governor Hochul, shame on her,” he told Fox News.
Mr Homan said: “She supports sanctuary status in that state. She welcomed thousands of illegal aliens in that state. Governor Hochul…there’s nothing you can say that’s going to make this right in New York.”
Illegal immigration was a major issue in the November 2024 election, with Mr Trump vowing to enact a programme of mass deportation and making unsubstantiated claims about migrants eating cats and dogs in Springfield, Ohio.
On Sunday morning, the victim was sitting on a stationary train at Coney Island-Stillwell subway station in Brooklyn when the suspect slowly approached her and set her on fire using a lighter, police said.
He was then filmed sitting down on a platform bench opposite, seemingly watching her burn. The woman, who has not yet been named, was pronounced dead at the scene.
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Nearby police officers did not appear to notice the man and were seen rushing past him as they tried to put out the blaze.
In one video, a police officer appeared to speak to the suspect, motioning down the platform with his radio and saying: “Do me a favour? Walk down there. I need this space cleared up.”
The man was arrested later on Sunday.
The New York Police Department said there had been no prior interaction between the man and the woman and they did not believe they knew each other.
The New York Post reported that the suspect, a 33-year-old from Guatemala, had attempted to enter the US illegally in 2018 at the Arizona border but was detained and turned back within days.
Sources said that he later returned to the US and made his way north to New York, although it is unclear how long he was in the city before the attack on Sunday.
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In April 2023 he was said to have been staying at a taxpayer-funded migrant shelter at a Days Inn hotel on 36th Street, and had previously provided authorities with the address of another shelter on Randall’s Island.
Roughly eight hours after the woman was set alight, Ms Hochul posted a selfie of herself posing on the subway and said she had deployed the National Guard to trains to cut crime earlier in 2024.
“In March, I took action to make our subways safer for the millions of people who take the trains each day,” she wrote on social media, adding: “Crime is going down, and ridership is going up.”
Thanked for ‘aggressive response’
Elon Musk, the Tesla billionaire and ally of Mr Trump, said her post was “insane” and that “she should be recalled”.
Facing a backlash, she later called the incident “horrific” and thanked the police for its “aggressive response”.
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“Our brand-new security cameras helped law enforcement find the suspect and arrest him,” she said.
“Make no mistake: any crime is one too many, even with subway crime going down. We are continuing to surge personnel and resources to make our subways safer.”
Ms Hochul has been approached for comment.
Following the attack, the suspect, dressed in a dark grey hoodie, left the scene. He was later caught onboard a different train when students alerted the police after recognising him from images splashed across the news.
A video, posted by the suspect, appears to show him drunkenly ranting on the subway.
“I drink my beer as I please and I live what I am,” he says in Spanish, speaking and motioning to an empty platform.
It is unclear whether it was filmed on the day of the attack but he is wearing the same grey hoodie.
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