A former New York City police sergeant pleaded guilty Wednesday to impersonating a federal immigration official in order to threaten a woman and her family with deportation, conduct prosecutors have described as an attempt to “take revenge” on someone in his personal life. Atickul Islam, 29, of Queens, pleaded guilty in federal court in Brooklyn to false impersonation of a U.S. officer, a violation of federal law carrying a maximum sentence of three years in prison. Irizarry accepted the plea.
Islam, a former New York Police Department sergeant, falsely identified himself as the director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s New York Field Office and sent the woman what purported to be an official immigration notice, according to federal court filings. He ordered her and her family to report to an ICE office in New York City by April 15, 2025, and was charged with impersonating a federal officer, per the filings. ICE has rapidly bolstered its ranks under President Donald Trump as his administration pursues its mass deportation agenda.
The agency has added thousands of officers and agents through a nationwide hiring campaign backed by billions of dollars in new funding. The expansion in immigration enforcement has coincided with several reported cases of people posing as ICE agents. Newsweek contacted Islam’s attorney and ICE for comment outside office hours.
In text messages on March 29, Islam told the woman that her family would always “live poor,” threatened to call ICE to “come get” her and her family, and indicated that he knew where they lived, according to the Justice Department. About four hours later, prosecutors said, Islam contacted the woman from an unknown number and falsely identified himself as the director of ICE’s New York Field Office. He characterized the message as an “official notice” and told the woman that she had been reported to immigration authorities.
Islam directed the woman and her family to report to an ICE office or face “further legal action and enforcement measures,” prosecutors said. As demonstrated by today’s plea, our Office will not tolerate any officer who would use the threat of federal law enforcement to carry out a personal vendetta.” James C. Barnacle Jr., assistant director in charge of the FBI’s New York Field Office, said Islam had used “fake authority to target and intimidate a victim for personal reasons.” As part of his plea agreement, Islam was required to leave the NYPD.
He resigned on September 25, five days before entering his guilty plea, according to federal prosecutors. He is also barred from applying for another position with the NYPD or any other law enforcement agency. Islam had initially pleaded not guilty after his arrest in November 2025 and was released on a $25,000 secured bond, according to the federal court docket provided to Newsweek.
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