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- Derek Weston via fox - Most Popular
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New York bans local police partnerships with ICE as Hochul says she 'just banned it'
ReNew York bans local police partnerships with ICE as Hochul says she 'just banned it'
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul confirmed Friday that the state has outlawed formal civil immigration enforcement agreements between local law enforcement and ICE, a move that took effect this week and is now being challenged in federal court by 15 county sheriffs.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul confirmed Friday that the state has formally outlawed civil immigration enforcement agreements between local police and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a policy shift that took effect this week and is already facing a federal court challenge from county sheriffs.
Speaking on MSNBC's «Morning Joe,» Hochul said the state has banned 287(g) agreements, which allow trained local personnel to perform certain federal civil immigration functions under ICE supervision. «I just banned it,» she said. «It's against the law now in the state of New York to have these agreements.»
The Local Cops, Local Crimes Act, signed by Hochul in May, prohibits state and local entities from entering or remaining in such agreements. The governor'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 Department of Homeland Security pushed back sharply on the new restriction. A DHS spokesperson said the ban will force more federal agents into communities because local cooperation is no longer available. «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 spokesperson said.
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.
Hochul's office disputed 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.»
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.
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.
