Ex-NYPD Sergeant’s Guilty Plea for Impersonating ICE Officer

A former police sergeant from New York City admitted guilt in court for posing as a federal immigration official to threaten a woman and her family with deportation. Prosecutors described it as a personal vendetta.

Atickul Islam, 29, from Queens, pleaded guilty in Brooklyn to the charge of falsely impersonating a U.S. officer, carrying a potential three-year prison sentence. U.S. District Judge Dora L. Irizarry accepted his plea.

Court records reveal that Islam falsely claimed to be the director of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) New York Field Office. He sent a fake official immigration notice to the woman, instructing her and her family to report to an ICE office in New York City by April 2025.

This incident coincides with an expansion of ICE under President Donald Trump’s administration, which has increased enforcement and added thousands of officers.

On March 29, Islam allegedly sent text messages to the woman, stating her family would always live in poverty and threatened to have ICE take them away, citing knowledge of their address. Hours later, he called from an unknown number, claiming unofficial ICE authority and threatening legal action unless the family complied.

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 U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella, Jr.

James C. Barnacle Jr., assistant director of the FBI’s New York Field Office, highlighted Islam’s misuse of fake authority for personal gains.

As part of his plea deal, Islam resigned from the NYPD and was barred from future law enforcement positions.

Originally pleading not guilty in November 2025, he was released on a $25,000 bond, with the case undergoing several legal proceedings before the recent plea change.

The court has scheduled his sentencing for March 24, 2027, with a potential maximum sentence of three years.

The FBI had previously alerted law enforcement about criminals exploiting ICE’s image to commit crimes against vulnerable groups, citing several impersonation cases.

An ICE spokesperson condemned such impersonations as dangerous and illegal, noting that impostors face various criminal charges.

Scott Mechkowski, a retired ICE agent, noted the increasing ease of posing as an ICE agent, given their heightened public presence.