Gov. Kathy Hochul is set to testify before Congress about New York’s approach to undocumented immigrants and the “cruelty” she sees in the Trump administration’s deportation push.
Hochul is one of three Democratic governors who agreed to take part in what will likely be a combative hearing before the Republican-led House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. That panel questioned four mayors — including Eric Adams of New York City — in March about their city’s “sanctuary” policies on undocumented immigrants, and will now do the same with the state leaders.
The hearing begins at 10 a.m. and can be viewed on C-Span. In addition to Hochul, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz are scheduled to testify.
“The Trump Administration is taking decisive action to deport criminal illegal aliens from our nation but reckless sanctuary states like Illinois, Minnesota, and New York are actively seeking to obstruct federal immigration enforcement,” Rep. James Comer, the committee’s chairman, said in a statement last month. “The governors of these states must explain why they are prioritizing the protection of criminal illegal aliens over the safety of U.S. citizens, and they must be held accountable.”
Hochul will firmly dispute that line of attack. In written testimony shared in advance by her office, she stresses that New York fully cooperates with federal agencies to remove undocumented immigrants who are convicted of crimes, and is committed to prosecuting those accused of criminal activity.
“When individuals who enter the country illegally commit crimes in New York, I want themarrested and tried—and, if convicted, imprisoned and deported,” she is set to testify. “Simply sending people back to their home countries without any accountability does not prevent them from trying to return, and it does not make us safer.”
She noted that New York’s prison system alerts Immigration and Customs Enforcement whenever a non-citizen is due to be released so that federal agents can take them into custody and begin deportation proceedings. The state has released 1,343 people to ICE in that way since she took office, and the agency failed to collect another 120 before their release, according to supporting data from Hochul’s office.
What state troopers cannot do, Hochul will say, is help federal agents arrest people who are wanted for immigration violations but not criminal offenses.
“We have to draw a line somewhere,” her testimony reads. “New York cannot deputize our state officers to enforce civil immigration violations, such as overstaying a visa. That is the responsibility of the federalgovernment, which has far more personnel and resources dedicated to immigration enforcement.”
Hochul also plans to repeat her condemnation of an ICE raid in rural Sackets Harbor on March 27. Though they were not the intended targets, a mother and three kids were arrested and taken away while the father was working at a dairy farm, sparking a huge uproar in the community — among Republicans and Democrats alike. Two weeks later, there was an outpouring of support when the family was returned.
“Their community, regardless of political affiliation, rallied around them, because they all recognized thefundamental cruelty of what had happened,” Hochul said.
Chris McKenna covers government and politics for The Journal News and USA Today Network. Reach him at cmckenna@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Kathy Hochul set to face grilling in Congress at GOP hearing on ‘sanctuary state’ policies
Reporting by Chris McKenna, New York State Team / Rockland/Westchester Journal News
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