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New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said Friday on “Morning Joe” that New York banned formal civil immigration-enforcement agreements between local law enforcement and ICE because she wants officers focused on local crime, while a DHS spokesperson said in an exclusive statement to Digital that the restriction will force more federal agents into communities as 15 county sheriffs challenge the law in federal court.
“When politicians bar local law enforcement from working with DHS, our law enforcement officers have to have a more visible presence so that we can find and apprehend the criminals let out of jails and back into communities,” the DHS spokesperson said. “Seven of the top 10 safest cities in the United States cooperate with ICE. Instead of working with us, Governor Hochul and Attorney General James are choosing to RELEASE violent criminals from their jails directly back into our communities to perpetrate more crimes and create more victims.”
DHS cited five New York cases involving noncitizens who it said remained at large or were released despite ICE detainers after arrests or convictions involving attempted murder, rape, assault, weapons charges or child endangerment. ICE later took all five into custody, and one was removed to Mexico, the department said.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul touted the state’s ban on 287(g) agreements, maintaining that local officers should focus on local crime rather than civil immigration enforcement. (REUTERS/Brendan McDermid)
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Hochul’s office responded to DHS’s criticism Friday in a statement to Digital, disputing the department’s characterization of the law’s public-safety consequences.
“Governor Hochul has been clear: You don’t make New York State safer by co-opting local law enforcement to conduct civil immigration enforcement that targets families, children and hardworking individuals,” a Hochul spokesperson said. “A federal court has already upheld New York’s Local Cops, Local Crimes Act, and the state will continue to work with federal and local law enforcement in cracking down on violent offenders while keeping our communities safe and enforcing our laws.”
During the interview on “Morning Joe”, co-host Willie Geist asked whether ICE could still secure agreements with New York police forces.
DHS warned that eliminating local ICE partnerships would force federal agents to maintain a more visible presence in New York communities. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images and Richard Drew/AP Photo)
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“I just banned it,” Hochul said. “It’s against the law now in the state of New York to have these agreements.”
The Local Cops, Local Crimes Act, signed in May, took effect Tuesday. It prohibits state and local entities from entering or remaining in 287(g) agreements, which let trained local personnel perform certain federal civil immigration functions under ICE supervision.
Hochul’s office said the law does not prevent jails from notifying ICE about potentially deportable people in custody or transferring someone lawfully in custody to the agency, subject to local laws. Existing corrections law also requires the state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision to notify federal immigration authorities after receiving a noncitizen into custody, the governor’s office said.
Fifteen New York county sheriffs sued the Hochul administration, alleging the new law unlawfully restricts their authority to maintain federally authorized ICE agreements. (Steve Pfost/Newsday RM via Getty Images)
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The federal lawsuit, led by Rensselaer County Sheriff Kyle Bourgault, claims the ban unlawfully overrides independently elected sheriffs’ authority and impairs federally authorized agreements. The state said Rensselaer was the only one of 12 agencies with a 287(g) agreement that had not indicated it would dissolve the pact.
Attorney General Letitia James sued Rensselaer County and its sheriff Thursday, seeking an order terminating the agreement. The action was the first filed by the state’s new Office of Immigrant Trust.
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A federal judge earlier this month denied the Justice Department’s request for a preliminary injunction against the 287(g) ban in a separate case, allowing Tuesday’s deadline to take effect. That litigation remains pending, and the 15 sheriffs have separately requested emergency relief in their new case.
