New York Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul recently announced a brand new law that bans police in the state from assisting Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) when carrying out operations to enforce immigration law and deport criminal illegals. The governor made the announcement during a press conference.
“And we will not sit idly by when ICE commits atrocities on our streets. We will not allow local cops to be diverted as ICE agents conduct civil immigration enforcement,” the Democratic governor said during the press conference. She then said that in order to keep crime in local areas to a minimum, communities need to have local police focused on what’s happening on the streets.
“To keep crime down, as we have been doing, we need local police focused on thwarting local crimes. Local police, local crimes, not conducting civil immigration enforcement, not chasing Stephen Miller’s inane deportation quotas. And that’s why this year I championed a brand new law banning agreements between local law enforcement and ICE,” Hochul went on to say.
The governor then said that the law she signed is now in effect. “Today, that law becomes enforceable. That means tonight, starting today, ICE can no longer use locally funded police to carry out the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration agenda,” Hochul continued. She then explained that local police officers “cannot be ordered to aid” an “out-of-control agency with an $85 billion budget.”
“Local cops can no longer be deputized to participate in disorderly raids that too often descend into chaos and violence. As I said at the top, local police will assist ICE only if a real crime has been committed. But on civil immigration matters. ICE is on their own,” the New York governor told the press. “Let me be clear: any police department or sheriff’s office that disobeys this law, that maintains any agreement with ICE, will face legal action.”
According to a report from Fox News, not everyone in the world of law enforcement is on board with Hochul’s new law. Over a dozen sheriffs in the Empire State have filed a lawsuit over the law, prompting the governor to dare them to “bring it on.” The lawsuit, led by Rensselaer County Sheriff Kyle Bourgault, claims that the law is not constitutional and places unlawful restrictions on elected sheriffs and their ability to enter into federally authorized immigration-enforcement agreements.
“Today, Kathy Hochul escalated her administration’s war on the police and she expanded policies to put criminals before the citizens of New York,” Rensselaer County Executive Steve McLaughlin went on to say about the governor’s new law. Hochul threatened to sue any locality that did not end cooperation agreements with ICE, ultimately setting up a confrontation between herself and her GOP challenger, Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, as his county is one that has an agreement with ICE.
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“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 said. Blakeman, who held a press conference at the same time as Hochul’s, did not state whether he would comply with the new law.