Citing "unspeakable acts of violence" committed by federal immigration officers, Gov. Kathy Hochul on Friday proposed a state law to ban local police across New York from working with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on immigration raids.
Under a 1996 federal law, ICE can make agreements with state and local enforcement agencies that allow it to use those agencies' resources – including offices, officers and jails – to carry out ICE's duties. In Western New York, agencies that have agreements with ICE include the sheriff's offices of Cattaraugus and Niagara counties, as well as the Village of Allegany Police Department in Cattaraugus County, according to ICE's website.
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Joined in Manhattan by police chiefs and prosecutors from New York City to Syracuse, Hochul said the agreements put officers working on ICE's job, and not on their primary responsibility to keep their communities safe. ICE, formerly a $6 billion agency, now has more than $85 billion at its disposal, Hochul said. She proposed a "Local Cops, Local Crimes Act" to mandate that local police focus on keeping their communities safe, and prohibit them from working as deputized ICE agents.
"Very simply, local police focus on local crimes – focus on protecting our streets," Hochul said. "And I'll work closely with my partners in the Legislature to get this passed as quickly as possible."
Hochul's proposed law is similar to a bill, the New York For All Act, that would prohibit local law enforcement agencies from assisting ICE in immigration raids or in any capacity. That legislation, sponsored by Assembly Member Karines Reyes, D-Bronx, and Sen. Andrew Gounardes, D-Brooklyn, goes further than Hochul's bill. For instance, Hochul said she will not stop federal agencies from going after violent criminals. She said that since she took office in August 2021, her administration has turned over 1,400 convicted criminals to ICE to be deported after they served their sentences.
Hochul stressed that she was not asking police not to work with federal agencies to pursue violent criminals. But she said she will no longer allow the state to allow local officers to support "flagrant abuses of power" under the guise of public safety. Hochul called the recent killings by ICE officers of Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti "murders." She said President Trump's administration and ICE officers have abandoned the principles dictating that public safety be pursed legally, transparently and with humanity. She called for the resignation of U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem.
On Monday, Buffalo Mayor Sean Ryan signed an executive order to forbid city employees from participating in civil immigration enforcement.
"In every corner of our state, New Yorkers are feeling traumatized and stunned as they watch federal agents carry out unspeakable acts of violence in a country they no longer recognize," Hochul said Friday, referring to the "horrors unfolding in the streets in Minneapolis."
On Jan. 24, ICE agents fatally shot Pretti, 37, an intensive care unit nurse for the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs, during a protest in Minneapolis. On Jan. 7, an ICE agent fatally shot Good, also 37, in her vehicle during an ICE enforcement action. Hochul described Pretti as a "protector and a patriot," and Good as a mother of three who was shot in the face and "killed in cold blood" for "exercising her First Amendment rights."
Hochul noted that on Thursday, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey implored officials across the country to speak up before experiencing the same issues as the Minnesota city. Hochul said she heeded the call. She slammed the Trump administration for showing what she called a callous response to the killings. She said the administration denied responsibility, smeared the victims and told citizens not to believe their own eyes.
"What has become so apparent is this is not just about immigration policy. This is about a blatant, dangerous abuse of power," Hochul said.
Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, a Republican challenging Hochul for governor, slammed her proposed law. Nassau County has an agreement allowing ICE to use local officers.
"Kathy Hochul is the most pro-criminal governor in the United States who has a callous disregard for the safety of our communities and victims of crime," Blakeman said in a statement. "By banning local law enforcement partnerships with ICE, Hochul is allowing dangerous criminals to return to our neighborhoods. That ends when I’m governor."
State Sen. Patrick Gallivan, R-Elma, a retired State Police captain and former Erie County sheriff, did not approve of Hochul's plan.
"Citizens should expect law enforcement and government agencies at all levels to work together in the public trust. Anything less has proven to jeopardize public safety," he said in a statement.
"Prohibiting state and local authorities from cooperating with ICE will do the same. Any law enforcement officer…federal, state, or local…who abuses their authority must be held accountable. Flagrant abuses of power, appropriately, are already prohibited under New York state law."
In her recent State of the State address, Hochul called for a state law to allow citizens to sue federal officials for violations of constitutional rights. Hochul also called for a list of sensitive locations – schools, day care centers, hospitals and houses of worship – that ICE officers would be banned from entering without a judicial warrant.
On Friday, Hochul said residences will be added to the list. It was in response to an internal ICE memo, uncovered by Congress, showing that ICE had instructed its officers they did not need to abide by the Fourth Amendment's protections against unlawful search and seizure to enter homes.
Hochul stopped short of calling for the abolishment of ICE, but said the agency desperately needs to be reformed and its officers retrained.
"We also have to have borders that are protected. We don't want criminals and gang members coming across the borders. We need to have that (ICE)," Hochul told reporters. "But what it has morphed into under Donald Trump and Kristi Noem shocks the conscience."
