A United States Attorney for New York was chased with a knife by an illegal immigrant outside a hotel in Albany, New York, security camera footage shows.
John Sarcone, the Trump-appointed US Attorney for the Northern District of New York, was relaxing outside a hotel Tuesday night, smoking a cigar, when he was confronted by a man who pulled a knife and lunged toward him.
The attacker, Saul Morales-Garcia, an illegal alien and convicted felon from El Salvador with a criminal record in several states, chased the attorney into the hotel lobby.
Sarcone, who also served as an attorney for President Trump's campaign in 2016 and again in 2024, called Albany County Sheriff Craig Apple. He went back outside to keep an eye on his assailant until law enforcement could arrive. At this point, Morales-Garcia again brandished the knife and made a 'slit throat' gesture.
“I’m a resident of the city of Albany, and I can’t … I don’t feel safe to go out for a walk and have a cigar right near the state Capitol,” Sarcone told the Albany Times Union after the harrowing ordeal.
WNYT reports that the man faces multiple counts, including charges of second-degree attempted murder, third-degree criminal possession of a weapon, and second-degree menacing.
Welcome to Albany’s Downtown!: “Knife-wielding man chases U.S. Attorney in downtown Albany, official says” https://t.co/59096XuD2u
— Fredric U. Dicker (@fud31) June 19, 2025
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The Times Union tracked down Morales-Garcia's criminal background. It is extensive, with charges pending in Georgia, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and federal court. The New York Post adds that he was convicted of a felony in his home country of El Salvador.
The charges in Virginia bear a resemblance to what happened with Sarcone, as the illegal alien was hit with "engaging in a physically threatening act likely to inflict injury" as well as disorderly conduct and various alcohol related offenses.
ICE agents were in attendance at the courthouse when Morales-Garcia pleaded not guilty to the charges for his alleged attack on Sarcone. They will likely seek an arrest warrant to take him into federal custody if he is released while the case is pending in Albany.
“As I have said many times before: if you commit a violent crime in the city of Albany, we will find you, arrest you, and do everything we can to hold you accountable — regardless of where you are from,” Mayor Kathy Sheehan said in a statement. “People deserve to feel safe, and we will continue to do everything we can to ensure the public’s safety, today and every day.”
Sheehan issued an executive order in 2017 designating Albany as a sanctuary city.
"If a warrant is issued, we can hold people, but we have to follow the Constitution," she said at the time, defending illegals in Albany as helping to bring about a "vibrant economy."
The alleged attack on Sarcone comes just 24 hours after New York Governor Kathy Hochul kept up her fight in support of criminal aliens, happily declaring that she had provided $50 million in state taxpayer money to illegals to help them fight within the legal system.
Democrat Governor Kathy Hochul announces she will be using $50 million to fund lawyers for illegal aliens, all using New Yorkers' taxpayer dollars.
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) June 18, 2025
Democrats care more for illegal aliens than American citizens. pic.twitter.com/u6rxj4TtJS
Hochul was widely panned for the announcement, with critics noting the funds had already been allocated in the state budget. Still, that is money that could be better served for the law-abiding people in the Empire State.
The governor was eviscerated by Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) following Morales-Garcia's arrest.
“In Kathy Hochul’s New York, nobody is safe, not even President Trump’s U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of NY John A. Sarcone III, who was ‘confronted and chased’ by an illegal alien armed with a knife in Albany last night, the Times Union reported,” she wrote on X.
“Three separate times, Hochul signed executive orders to protect violent illegal aliens from deportation. Kathy Hochul puts illegals first and New Yorkers last. We desperately need a governor who puts New Yorkers first and restores law and order to our streets.”
Sarcone recently made news as part of a Department of Justice (DOJ) announcement charging Akeel Abdul Jamiel, an Iraqi who is not a U.S. citizen, with illegally voting in the November 2020 election.
Prosecutors in Albany contend the incident involving the Trump-appointed attorney was a "random" street encounter. But the man never should have been on the streets in the first place. He was deported at least once in 2010, but somehow made his way back to the sanctuary of the capital of New York.
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