A Mexican necrophiliac will spend five years behind bars for raping and robbing a dead man on a New York City subway last year, but the case has been described as a “damning indictment of sanctuary cities.”
A Manhattan judge ordered Felix Jeronimo-Rojas, 44, an illegal immigrant from Mexico, to serve five years in prison for the depraved crime, and federal immigration authorities want to kick him out of the country after that.
He has a history of illegal entry and reentry dating back to 1998, yet remained in the country illegally for nearly three decades.
“Jeronimo-Rojas had previously illegally entered our country FIVE TIMES,” the U.S. Department of Homeland Security shared on social media. “We need cooperation from sanctuary politicians to ensure depraved criminals like this are NEVER released back into our communities.”
Jeronimo-Rojas pleaded guilty to robbing and raping Jorge Gonzalez, 37, after he died on an R train in April 2025. He turned himself in to the authorities three weeks after the crime, after investigators released surveillance footage of the assault.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement lodged a detainer for Jeronimo-Rojas on April 30, 2025. Jeronimo-Rojas was initially charged with rape and grand larceny, DHS said.
In April of 2025, Jorge Gonzalez, 37, boarded an R train in New York City, and died shortly thereafter.
A few hours after he died, Felix Rojas, 44, a Mexican illegal, boarded the same train, and discovered Gonzalez’ dead body.
He then pulled down Gonzalez’ pants and proceeded… pic.twitter.com/7o2zbCWe9Y
— Kentucky Girl (@Notwokenow) June 25, 2026
The heinous subway assault shocked the nation when the details first emerged, and yet Jeronimo-Rojas only received five years during his sentencing on June 17 by a Manhattan judge. His plea deal includes 15 years of supervised release following his prison sentence, the New York Post reported.
DHS officials want to deport Jeronimo-Rojas after he serves his prison sentence.
Jeronimo-Rojas illegally entered the country four times in 1998 and 1999. He was caught by the U.S. Border Patrol and voluntarily returned to Mexico each time, DHS shared in a news release.
He then illegally entered the country for a fifth time at an unknown date and location and made his way to Brooklyn, New York.
“ICE lodged a detainer asking Governor Kathy Hochul and New York sanctuary politicians to commit to not releasing this criminal illegal alien after his prison sentence,” said Acting Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis. “We need cooperation from sanctuary politicians to ensure depraved criminals like this are not released into our communities.”
The Post offered details of the sentencing hearing, noting “the sicko who raped a dead man for more than 30 minutes aboard a Manhattan subway last year will spend five years behind bars — after he sat speechless during his sentence Wednesday.”
Local outlet KTSA called the case a “brutal reminder of exactly what is at stake when American cities refuse to enforce immigration law” and called it a “damning indictment of sanctuary cities.”
New York has become a hotbed for illegal immigrant crime due to its sanctuary policies.
“What happened on that subway car was not just a crime. It was a catastrophic failure of policy,” KTSA noted.
Details released by the district attorney’s office as well as in court revealed the depravity of the crime.
According to investigators, the victim, Jorge Gonzalez, boarded the R train near Whitehall Street station, lost consciousness and died on a bench in the subway car.
About three hours later, Jeronimo-Rojas entered the car and noticed that Gonzalez was motionless. He didn’t call for help or alert authorities. Instead, Jeronimo-Rojas began searching the dead man’s body and then sexually assaulted his corpse for 30 minutes.
He decided to measure his waist up to Gonzalez’s mouth while “repeatedly thrusting his hips back and forth,” Manhattan prosecutors said.
During court proceedings, it was revealed “that the freak then pulled Gonzalez’s pants down, raped him and rummaged through his pockets,” The Post reported.
Jeronimo-Rojas stopped his perverted activities whenever the train approached stations or when other passengers entered the car. He would sit down and pretend nothing was happening, The Western Journal reported.
At one point, Jeronimo-Rojas moved the dead man onto the floor. A subway employee later found the victim dead and called for help.
Gonzalez came to the US nearly 20 years ago, working all kinds of jobs to support his family back home, according to the Post.
Even if ICE attempts to deport Jeronimo-Rojas, there is no guarantee New York officials will cooperate, especially as the state moves further left under Democratic socialists.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has called to abolish ICE and implemented policies to protect illegal immigrants, including criminals.
As KTSA noted, “here is the outrage hiding in plain sight. New York City is a sanctuary city, which means local officials will almost certainly attempt to protect Rojas from federal immigration enforcement even after he serves his sentence.”
As of December 1, 2025, New York’s refusal to honor ICE detainers has resulted in the release of 6,947 criminal illegal aliens. Their crimes include 29 homicides, 2,509 assaults, 199 burglaries, 305 robberies, 392 dangerous drugs offenses, 300 weapons offenses, and 207 sexual predatory offenses.
When sanctuary officials and local jurisdictions ignore ICE detainers, criminals are released back onto the streets and ICE has to find them and make an at-large arrest.
“This case is not an isolated incident,” KTSA noted in its commentary. “It is a window into what happens when open-border ideology and sanctuary city politics are allowed to override common sense and the rule of law. President Trump and his administration have been sounding this alarm for years, and cases like Felix Rojas prove the point with devastating clarity.”
