NYPD Cop Posed As ICE Agent To ‘Take Revenge’ on Woman: DOJ - Newsweek

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. U.S. District Judge Dora L. 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.

“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,” Joseph Nocella, Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said in a press release. “We expect law enforcement officers of every rank to act with honesty and integrity. 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. His case subsequently went through months of discovery and several adjourned status conferences before a change-of-plea hearing was scheduled for September 30.

At Wednesday’s hearing, prosecutors confirmed that the victim had been notified of the proceeding and was not present, according to the court docket. Islam submitted his NYPD resignation as required under the plea agreement before pleading guilty to the indictment’s sole count.

The court scheduled Islam’s sentencing for March 24, 2027. Prosecutors have said he faces a statutory maximum of three years in prison. The sentence ultimately imposed will be determined by the court.

In November 2025, the FBI warned state and federal law enforcement agencies that criminals posing as ICE agents were exploiting the agency’s heightened public profile to target vulnerable communities. The bureau said impersonators had been linked to robberies, kidnappings and other crimes, and urged officers to clearly identify themselves during enforcement operations.

The FBI bulletin cited five incidents in 2025 involving people accused of posing as immigration officers, including a North Carolina man accused of impersonating an ICE agent and sexually assaulting a woman after threatening her with deportation, a Brooklyn man accused of attacking and attempting to rape a woman after claiming to be an ICE agent, and a New York man who allegedly posed as an ICE officer on social media. The bulletin also cited a Florida case in which a woman seeking legal U.S. residency was allegedly kidnapped by someone posing as an ICE agent, and an August robbery at a New York restaurant in which three people allegedly claimed to be immigration officers before restraining workers and robbing an ATM.

A spokesperson for ICE previously told Newsweek: "ICE strongly condemns the impersonation of its officers or agents. This action is not only dangerous, but illegal. Imposters can be charged with various criminal offenses both at the state/local level, as well as federally."

Scott Mechkowski, a retired Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent, previously told Newsweek: "We've dealt with that since the creation of DHS and ICE. I think it's easier now to maybe pose as an agent, because the belief is that ICE is everywhere."

Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Matthew Cannon and Cristina Diciu.