The data also show that fare evasion enforcement continues to disproportionately target New Yorkers of color, who account for 94 percent of fare evasion arrests and nearly 81 percent of fare evasion summonses where race was identified.

Every arrest can pull New Yorkers into the criminal legal system, resulting in detention, court appearances, and lasting criminal records. For many immigrants, these arrests can also trigger severe consequences, including ICE detention and deportation.

“This data makes clear that Mayor Mamdani is continuing the same aggressive enforcement approach as the Adams administration over a $3 subway fare,” said Philip Desgranges, Attorney-in-Charge of Criminal Law Reform at The Legal Aid Society.

“Arresting and jailing New Yorkers for low-level fare evasion does nothing to improve public safety — it funnels people into the criminal legal system and, for many immigrants, into the ICE detention and deportation pipeline,” he continued. “City Hall should be ending these unnecessary arrests, not doubling down on a failed strategy that imposes potentially catastrophic consequences for minor offenses.”

Last September, Legal Aid and fellow public defenders released a ten-point plan calling on the City to end broken windows and other quality-of-life policing strategies. The latest data show that, despite those recommendations, the Mamdani administration continues to expose thousands of New Yorkers to arrest and prosecution for low-level offenses, despite campaigning on reforming the NYPD.