(The Center Square) — New York Gov. Kathy Hochul is giving county sheriffs a final ultimatum to end immigration agreements with the Trump administration or face possible legal action for violating a new state law.
In a joint statement issued Friday, Hochul and Attorney General Letitia James put seven sheriffs on notice that they have until Aug. 25 to terminate their so-called 287(g) agreements with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement that allow local cops to be deputized by ICE for immigration enforcement.
The Democrats said since they sent notices to a dozen sheriffs in July demanding that they provide documentation verifying they have terminated the agreements, only five have complied with the request. They said the remaining seven sheriffs have 11 days to “formally unwind their agreements with ICE.”
“Local police should be focused on one thing: keeping their communities safe,” they wrote. “That’s why New York passed these laws, why we will enforce them, and why we will continue standing up to federal overreach. Our job is to enforce the law, and that is exactly what we plan on doing.”
James has previously warned that the new Office of Immigrant Trust will take legal action against any local police or sheriff’s department that continued to cooperate with ICE after the deadline.
In May, Hochul signed the “Local Cops, Local Crimes Act” that bans state and local law enforcement agencies from helping the federal government in civil immigration enforcement cases and bans ICE agents from wearing masks during operations. The new law specifically bans state and local governments or employees from cooperating with ICE in civil enforcement cases.
But the Department of Justice filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the new law, which lawyers for the DOJ said would make ICE agents and other federal authorities subject “to criminal penalties” for wearing masks to protect their identities, among other claims.
Several New York county leaders have publicly vowed that they will continue to cooperate with ICE while the federal court case plays out, arguing that it is unsettled law.
“Rensselaer County’s participation in 287g allows for necessary checks on those at our jail who are in our country illegally, ensuring someone wanted for crimes elsewhere is not released into our communities,” Rensselaer County Executive Steve McLaughlin and Sheriff Kyle Bourgault said in a statement. “These checks are the same that anyone else remanded to our jail would face.”
McLaughlin called the state’s ban on ICE agreements “a bad idea” and said it “only came about because the Governor and Attorney General are desperate to cater to their progressive bosses.”
“They have failed to show how their new policy would make anyone safer, and because of that, we will not comply,” the statement said.
Others, like Madison County Sheriff Todd Hood, have said they will terminate the agreements to comply with the law, but will continue to cooperate with ICE on immigration enforcement.
Hood, a Republican, is Nassau County Executive and gubernatorial candidate Bruce Blakeman’s running mate for lieutenant governor.
