The former NYPD sergeant, Atickul Islam, pleaded guilty to impersonating an ICE official and threatening a woman and her family with deportation in what prosecutors called an act of personal revenge. Court filings say Islam posed as the director of ICE's New York Field Office and sent a fake notice ordering the family to report by April 15, 2025, after sending threatening texts. He resigned from the NYPD as part of a plea agreement and faces a statutory maximum of three years; sentencing is set for March 24, 2027. The case also underscores a wider problem of criminals posing as immigration agents, a risk highlighted in an FBI bulletin.
Ex-NYPD Sergeant Pleads Guilty After Posing As ICE Director To Threaten Woman
Rear view of an NYPD police car parked on a city street, New York City, New York, October 20, 2024.
A former New York Police Department sergeant admitted in federal court that he impersonated an Immigration and Customs Enforcement official to threaten a woman and her family with deportation, a scheme prosecutors say was motivated by personal revenge.
What Prosecutors Say
According to federal court filings, 29-year-old Atickul Islam of Queens falsely identified himself as the director of ICE's New York Field Office and sent the victim a document presented as an "official" immigration notice. The bogus notice ordered the woman and her family to report to an ICE office in New York City by April 15, 2025. Prosecutors say Islam followed up with threatening text messages on March 29, telling the woman her family would "always 'live poor,'" threatening to "call ICE to come get" them and indicating he knew their address.
Timeline And Legal Outcome
Islam was arrested in November 2025 and initially pleaded not guilty before being released on a $25,000 secured bond. After months of discovery and several adjourned status conferences, he resigned from the NYPD on September 25 as a condition of his plea agreement and entered a guilty plea in federal court on September 30. U.S. District Judge Dora L. Irizarry accepted the plea to a single count of falsely impersonating a U.S. officer, an offense that carries a statutory maximum sentence of three years in prison. Sentencing is scheduled for March 24, 2027. As part of the plea terms, Islam is barred from applying for future employment with the NYPD or any other law enforcement agency.
"Instead of upholding the law and serving members of his community, Atickul Islam used lies and the threat of deportation to take revenge on a woman in his personal life," said Joseph Nocella Jr., U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York.
Broader Context
Federal officials and prosecutors noted the case against Islam amid a broader law-enforcement environment in which impersonation of immigration officers has become a rising concern. The article cites an FBI bulletin from November 2025 warning that criminals posing as ICE agents have exploited the agency's heightened public profile to prey on vulnerable communities; such impersonators have been linked to robberies, kidnappings and sexual assaults in several reported incidents that year.
An ICE spokesperson previously told Newsweek that the agency "strongly condemns the impersonation of its officers or agents," noting that such conduct is dangerous and can result in criminal charges at state and federal levels. A retired ICE agent interviewed for the story commented that impersonation has been an ongoing problem since the creation of DHS and ICE and suggested that heightened public awareness of ICE may make it easier for impostors to intimidate victims.
Current Status
Islam submitted his resignation and pleaded guilty to the federal charge. The court will determine his sentence at the March 24, 2027 hearing. The case highlights both the criminal misuse of official authority for personal motives and the continuing public-safety concerns around individuals impersonating immigration officers.
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