New York leaders are nearing a deal to set new restrictions on immigration enforcement but may leave out limiting informal police cooperation with federal agents due to an unresolved dispute over how to do so, according to state officials and advocates.
The proposals are part of closed-door talks among Gov. Kathy Hochul and legislative leaders on a month-late state budget, and they include steps that Hochul offered and her fellow Democrats supported without contention. Among them: banning immigration agents from schools and other sensitive locations, and prohibiting any law enforcement officers from wearing masks while on duty.
The tricky part is setting boundaries on when local police may work with immigration agencies. Lawmakers and immigrant advocates have been pushing to pass the New York for All Act, a bill that would allow police to help with immigration enforcement only in criminal matters and when a judge has signed an arrest warrant.
Hochul recently countered with a proposal giving police more leeway to cooperate whenever they have “probable cause” that the person being sought has committed a crime. Supporters of the New York for All Act have rejected that standard as too lenient and subject to abuse — and it has now been withdrawn from the negotiations.
“That definitely has been out” of the talks, Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie said of the “probable cause” proposal when speaking to reporters in Albany on Wednesday, April 29. Asked if final plans will likely exclude limiting informal police cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he said: “I think the center of gravity might be in that direction now.”
“I think we all want to deal with the over-aggressiveness of ICE, but we also understand that there should always be due process,” Heastie said. “I think we’re just trying to figure out what’s the best balance on that.”
In a statement to the USA TODAY Network the next day, Hochul’s office said she was “committed to keeping New York communities safe” and put forward “a commonsense set of policies to hold ICE accountable while protecting the constitutional rights of every New Yorker.”
“The Governor remains focused on working with the Legislature to keep federal overreach out of New York, and any changes to the proposal have come as a direct result of requests from the Legislature,” the statement read.
Advocacy groups hold out hope for New York for All
A leader of one of the groups supporting the New York for All Act vows to continue pushing to pass that legislation —if not as part of the budget deal than on its own in the remaining weeks before the legislative session ends in June.
“We are continuing to push,” Natalia Aristizabal, co-executive director of Make the Road New York, told the USA TODAY Network. “We absolutely agree and believe that in this moment when we’ve seen what ICE or federal agents can do in a city, that it’s important that the ways in which they can interact with local enforcement are clear, for the protection of not only immigrants but also of all their neighbors and basically all New Yorkers.”
She argued the “probable cause” proposal was worse than the status quo, because it would have codified a loose standard for detentions that could be used to justify racial or ethnic profiling.
“It’s already been taken out,” Aristizabal said in an interview on Thursday, April 30. “And since then they proposed another new set of language that was also not good, and did almost the same thing as probable cause — or if anything, gave even more jurisdiction to local enforcement. And my understanding is that that language also has been taken out.”
NY sheriffs’ group speaks out against ICE cooperation limits
Part of the emerging deal that her group supports is a ban on formal cooperation pacts that local law enforcement agencies may sign with ICE. The Trump administration has encouraged police and jails and to adopt what are known as 287(g) agreements and nearly 1,800 have done so nationwide. But they are rare in New York with just eight counties and three villages on board.
The group representing sheriff’s departments around New York spoke out this week in defense of those agreements, issuing a statement and holding a press conference in Albany to oppose efforts to limit cooperation with federal authorities.
Part of their complaint was the inclusion of these discussions in backroom budget negotiations, rather than in open debate on the Assembly and Senate floors.
“These proposals are serious policy matters that should be openly discussed and debated, with full opportunity for those directly affected — Sheriffs and the public — to have input and to hear the debate,” read the statement from the New York Sheriffs’ Association. “Adopting important public policy changes in what amounts to a closed, secret process, is not a good way to do the People’s business.”
The sheriffs also warned against hampering communication between different levels of law enforcement, and said the 287(g) agreements with jails were safety measures and had nothing to do with immigration arrests on the streets. They simply allow jails to transfer an incarcerated person to the custody of federal agents in a safe setting.
“These important public safety exchanges should not be hampered because some are unhappy with the mission given to immigration law enforcement officers by federal law,” the statement read.
Mask ban could face legal challenge if enacted
Hochul has proposed prohibiting officers from wearing masks on duty, responding to a public outcry over federal agents hiding their faces and wearing no identification as they arrest immigrants. Critics condemn the spectacle of a secret police force as in an authoritarian state, while the Trump administration and other defenders say the officers are protecting themselves and their families from public exposure and retaliation.
That mask proposal will likely be contested in court if included in the budget deal. The Trump administration sued New Jersey on Wednesday, April 29 to challenge a similar mask ban.
USA TODAY Network’s Albany reporter Emily Barnes contributed to this report.
Chris McKenna covers government and politics for The Journal News and USA TODAY Network. Reach him at CMcKenna@usatodayco.com.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: NY near deal on ICE restraints but without limits on informal police help
Reporting by Chris McKenna, New York State Team / Rockland/Westchester Journal News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
