The Broome County Sheriff’s Office is pushing back against New York Gov. Kathy Hochul’s demand for police agencies to end agreements with Immigration and Customs Enforcement at the local level.
During a press conference on July 28, Broome County Sheriff Fred Akshar spoke about Hochul and New York State Attorney General Letitia James’ announcement, calling actions taken by state politicians to end ICE agreements “hypocrisy at its finest.”
Hochul and James released a joint press release on July 24 announcing the first enforcement action of the state’s newly created Office of Immigrant Trust — ending all 287(g) agreements by Aug. 25.
The Broome County Sheriff’s Office announced in March 2025 that corrections officers working in the correctional facility would assist ICE by participating in the warrant service officer portion of ICE’s 287(g) program. The agreement authorizes state and local law enforcement to perform specified immigration officer functions, including executing administrative warrants within the jail. The sheriff’s office does not participate in any active immigration enforcement activities in the community, and the jail has been housing federal detainees for decades, according to the sheriff’s office.
With the announcement on July 24, the Broome County Sheriff’s Office is one of 12 agencies Hochul is now requiring to unwind their 287(g) agreements with ICE in the next few weeks.
Immigration laws change in NY
The bill to end police agency agreements with ICE, which Hochul first announced on Jan. 30, bars counties and municipalities from entering into formal cooperation pacts with federal immigration authorities.
Hochul’s announcement in January came right on the heels of the killing of Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old intensive care unit nurse in Minneapolis. His death sparked protests nationwide and throughout New York, including a rally in Binghamton.
The legislation prevents state and local police from “acting as federal agents” or “using taxpayer-funded resources or personnel to carry out federal civil immigration enforcement,” according to Hochul’s initial announcement. It also prohibits federal agents from using local detention centers for “civil immigration enforcement, mass raids or the transportation of detainees.”
With the legislative change on the horizon at the state level, the sheriff’s office announced in April that it had made a policy change to only accept new ICE detainees who are in custody based on a judicial warrant or detainer while awaiting a legislative resolution from the state.
As part of the newly signed Local Cops, Local Crimes Act, Hochul and James said letters had been sent to all 12 agencies informing them that state law requires they unwind the agreements by Aug. 25.
The newly developed Office of Immigrant Trust, according to the release, is “dedicated to enforcing New York laws that protect immigrant communities, strengthen public trust and limit the use of state and local resources for federal civil immigration enforcement.” As part of its duties, the office will receive complaints, provide guidance to state and local agencies, conduct investigations and take legal action when necessary to ensure compliance with state law.
“Nobody is above the law,” Hochul said in a statement. “In New York, we will not tolerate the diversion of local resources for federal civil immigration enforcement at the expense of public safety. That is why we passed a commonsense set of laws standing up against federal overreach and ensuring that local law enforcement are not deputized by the highest funded law enforcement agency in the country. My top priority is keeping New Yorkers safe. Ensuring our law enforcement remains focused on local crimes is essential to protecting our communities and maintaining public safety.”
Akshar pushes back
While answering questions at a Binghamton Rotary Club meeting on June 9, Akshar said the correctional facility currently housed 449 inmates and 60 were federal detainees. Fifty of those 60 inmates are being held for the U.S. Marshals Service and 10 are being held for ICE.
Akshar said he sat down privately with Hochul to talk about immigration. Following that conversation, Akshar said he told ICE that the sheriff’s office will not be taking any more detainees on civil detainers without an official order for their detention from a judge.
With the legislation now signed, Akshar called the announcement a “gross display of political stunts and partisan grandstanding.”
“It’s frustrating from a law enforcement executive position when you oversee so many dedicated men and women who are literally every single day putting their life on the line to protect their community, and then to have the current political class in Albany suggest that they know best about protecting local communities is really hypocrisy at its finest,” he said.
Despite his objection to the law, Akshar said his responsibility is to enforce and follow it, which he said the office will “continue to do.” As for the future of the legislation, Akshar said he believes it will be legally challenged by other sheriffs across the state because there is “a very strong legal argument to be made about very specific violations of both the New York State Constitution and the United States Constitution.”
In regard to ICE detainees being held in the Broome County jail, Akshar said that if there is a “very dangerous person in this jail” and the expectation is for that person to be released, he will refuse.
“I don’t answer to Kathy Hochul, I don’t answer to Tish James, I answer to the great people of Broome County who afforded me an opportunity to administer this office,” he said. “I think any sheriff that you spoke to today, whether they signed a 287g agreement or they didn’t, I think that that’s where their frustration will certainly be rooted.”
Local support for ending ICE cooperation
The sheriff’s office participation in the 287(g) program has faced local opposition. In April, about 30 people gathered outside the Broome County jail calling for an end to the sheriff’s cooperation with ICE. A few weeks later, tensions boiled over at a public safety town hall hosted by the sheriff’s office and the Endicott Police Department as protestors in the crowd of over 100 residents decried the sheriff’s decision to cooperate with ICE.
Protesters gathered outside of the jail in December 2025 to protest the imprisonment of Guan Heng, a Chinese whistleblower seeking asylum who was arrested by ICE. Heng was later granted asylum, but his name continued as a rallying cry for local activists seeking to end the use of the jail for ICE detainees.
After months of alleged ICE activity in the Greater Binghamton area, Village of Johnson City Mayor Christina Charuk introduced a resolution which would have prevented the Johnson City Police Department from initiating stops, questioning, detaining, arresting or surveilling for the purpose of determining or enforcing civil immigration status. It would have also ensured that village funds, personnel, facilities, equipment or information systems could not be used to assist in civil immigration investigations, apprehensions, detentions or arrests.
The Village of Johnson City trustees struck down the resolution on Feb. 3. With possible legislative changes coming, Charuk said following the vote that she was waiting to see what would change at the state level.
In Binghamton, a similar piece of legislation prohibiting the use of city funds, resources and personnel for federal immigration purposes was passed by the city council in December 2025. The city was the first municipality in Broome County to pass legislation limiting ICE capabilities, a resolution that inspired the one introduced by Charuk in February.
This article originally appeared on Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin: ‘I don’t answer to Kathy Hochul.’ Broome sheriff pushes back on ICE mandate
Reporting by Jillian McCarthy, Binghamton Press & Sun Bulletin / Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin
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By Jillian McCarthy, Binghamton Press & Sun Bulletin | USA TODAY Network
