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More than a dozen New York sheriffs are suing over a state law prohibiting law enforcement from entering into or maintaining certain agreements with ICE for civil immigration enforcement, as Gov. Kathy Hochul dared the agency heads to “bring it on.”
A federal lawsuit led by Rensselaer County Sheriff Kyle Bourgault argues that the law is unconstitutional and unlawfully restricts elected sheriffs’ ability to enter into federally authorized immigration-enforcement agreements.
“Today, Kathy Hochul escalated her administration’s war on the police and she expanded polices to put criminals before the citizens of New York,” Rensselaer County Executive Steve McLaughlin said on Tuesday.
The Local Cops, Local Crimes Act, which Hochul signed in May, took effect on Tuesday, barring local and state law enforcement agencies from entering into partnerships with federal authorities to assist on civil immigration matters. The law also bars new agreements to house civil immigration detainees; existing detention agreements must be terminated under their applicable termination provisions within three months of the law’s effective date.
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Police may still assist ICE in cases of violent or other forms of non-immigration crime, but officers may not divert local resources to help with civil immigration enforcement as part of an effort to advance President Donald Trump’s mass deportation agenda.
Hochul threatened to sue localities that refuse to end cooperation agreements with ICE, setting up a confrontation between herself and her Republican challenger, Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, as his county is among those with agreements with ICE.
“No county executive should think that they are above the law in the state of New York,” Hochul said at a press conference on Tuesday.
She said any police department or sheriff’s office that ignores the law and maintains an agreement with ICE will face legal action.
“And to those suing us, those trying to block the implementation of this law who’ve tried before and failed, our law has already been upheld by the courts, but if you try me again, I say, bring it on,” the governor declared.
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New York Attorney General Letitia James also issued subpoenas to law enforcement agencies that either did not confirm plans to end their agreements or failed to provide what her office viewed as a satisfactory response. The subpoenas were sent to the sheriff’s offices of Broome, Steuben, Nassau and Rensselaer counties, as well as the Nassau County Police Department.
If the agencies fail to comply, the attorney general is vowing to file a civil suit, a spokesperson for her office told CBS News.
Hochul has said law enforcement will assist ICE “only if a real crime has been committed” but officers cannot use resources to help on civil immigration matters.
“Because we need local cops hunting down criminals, not kindergartners. Breaking up drug rings, not breaking up families. Arresting gun runners, not grandmas,” Hochul said.
Blakeman, who held a press conference at the same time as Hochul’s, did not address whether he would comply with the state’s orders, but he later told the New York Post he would “probably” join the sheriffs’ lawsuit.
He has previously defended working with ICE to remove illegal immigrants, claiming at a recent event with Trump that about 2,000 of these individuals in his county have criminal records.
“Kathy Hochul, where do you want those guns? What neighborhood do you want to destroy? Where do you want those drugs? What community do you want to destroy? Where do you want those illegal immigrants with criminal records to live? You want it back in New York? We say no,” Blakeman said at the time.
The Department of Homeland Security said Hochul “must stop putting politics above public safety.”
“This type of insanity leads to more crimes and more innocent victims,” a department spokesperson told the New York Post.
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