New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio is defending his sanctuary city’s policy that prevented an illegal alien from being deported before he allegedly sexually assaulted and murdered a 92-year-old woman in Queens.

Reeaz Khan, a 21-year-old illegal alien from Guyana, was arrested late last week and charged with sexually assaulting and murdering 92-year-old Maria Fuertes by strangling her to death on a sidewalk in Richmond Hill, Queens.

As Breitbart News exclusively reported, Khan first arrived in New York City on a B-2 tourist visa in May 2016 but never departed, overstaying his visa for three years. That violation of federal immigration law makes Khan an illegal alien.

On November 27, the New York Police Department (NYPD) charged Khan with assault and criminal possession of a weapon. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents filed a request that Khan be turned over to them for arrest should he be released from NYPD custody. That request, though, was ignored and police freed him back into the general public.

De Blasio, though, is defending NYPD’s release of Khan in that first arrest — a release that allowed the illegal alien back onto the streets and allegedly murder Fuertes less than two months later. De Blasio said NYPD will only cooperate with ICE after an illegal alien is convicted of a crime against an America.

“We’re talking about a heinous crime and this individual, once it’s proven, is someone who should be in prison for the rest of their life, but on top of that, if convicted, then they will be turned over to ICE,” De Blasio told CBS New York. “That’s how our law works.”

“I don’t know every fact of what happened before, but I know something fundamental … we believe that it is right to hold the standard,” De Blasio said when asked if he regretted not turning Khan over to ICE before Fuertes’ alleged murder.

“If someone is convicted of one of those crimes, they’re out of here. It’s as simple as that. If someone is accused of a crime, they still, of course, have a right to a trial,” De Blasio said.

Khan has been charged with second-degree murder, second-degree assault, sexual abuse, sexual abuse of a person incapable of consent, depraved indifference, and contact by forcible compulsion. He is being held in a New York City jail without bail.

Within the last year, New York City officials likely freed about 3,000 criminal illegal aliens back into the general public, Breitbart News reported.

John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter at @JxhnBinder.