Gov. Kathy Hochul is proposing to curb police involvement in federal immigration enforcement across New York in response to pressure for stronger steps than she offered earlier this year.
Her new proposal would bar local police officers from helping federal agents unless they’re seeking someone with a criminal conviction or suspected of a crime, based on an evidence standard known as probable cause.
That’s one of several new ideas on Hochul’s expanded list of moves to address the Trump administration’s deportation push. She also added a mask ban for law enforcement officers — an idea that she hadn’t embraced before and that federal officials immediately said their agents won’t obey if enacted.
Outlining her plans to reporters on Thursday, April 16, Hochul argued that local police should be left to handle local crimes and emergencies without being pulled into the duties of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
“ICE is a very well-funded agency, I think upward of $85 billion more now, so ICE has the resources,” Hochul said. “So local law enforcement should not be doing ICE’s job and not being weaponized against their own communities, not targeting law-abiding families who are working, and contributing and playing by the rules.”
What immigrant advocates say about Hochul’s new ICE plan
Her plans fell flat, though, with groups that have been pressing the governor to support a stricter bill known as the New York for All Act. That longstanding proposal would ban all cooperation with ICE by police and other public workers in non-criminal cases unless a judge has signed a warrant.
Lawmakers and groups advocating for the New York for All Act blasted Hochul’s alternative as a “half-measure” that would continue the “collusion” between ICE and local police.
“Governor Hochul’s latest proposal still doesn’t recognize the flashing danger posed by Trump’s mass deportation machines,” said Zach Ahmad, senior policy counsel for the New York Civil LIberties Union. “By giving police officers wide discretion to collude with ICE, the Governor would leave immigrant New Yorkers in danger.”
What’s in Hochul’s expanded ICE proposal list?
Some pieces of what Hochul laid out were existing ICE-related proposals she first made in January and that are being discussed with legislative leaders in state budget negotiations. They include:
Hochul added a few other new proposals besides the mask ban and limit on police cooperation. She is suggesting the state prohibit local governments from contributing to the cost of building an ICE detention center, or from changing their zoning to allow such a facility to be built without public input.
She also wants all public employees to be barred from taking part in immigration enforcement, which would preclude them from asking someone about their citizenship or country of origin unless compelled to do so by a judicial warrant.
What were political reactions to Hochul’s new ICE plans?
Republicans panned Hochul’s ICE proposals. State Sen. Rob Ortt, the Senate’s Republican minority leader, cited the justification that federal agents don masks and wear no identification to avoid being exposed on the internet — “doxxed” — and finding their homes and families targeted.
“I stand strong with law enforcement who risk their lives to protect our families and keep our communities safe,” Ortt wrote in a social media post. “We must do everything we can to protect police and their loved ones, who are often doxxed and put in danger by protestors.”
Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, the Republican governor candidate, said in response that he supports the removal of “dangerous criminals” while Hochul and Democrats “stand in the way.” His Long Island county holds two 287(g) agreements with ICE, one of which deputizes county police officers as ICE agents.
“New Yorkers deserve leaders who prioritize their safety — not Kathy Hochul’s policies that tie the hands of police sworn to protect them,” Blakeman said in a statement.
The Department of Homeland Security told the Gothamist news site that a mask ban would be unconstitutional and endanger agents, and that ICE officers wouldn’t comply with it if New York enacts it.
Objecting from the opposite side, two lawmakers spearheading the New York for All Act argued Hochul had set the bar too low by allowing police to cooperate with ICE if they say they have probable cause for a crime.
“Letting law enforcement hand New Yorkers over to ICE merely because they suspect unsubstantiated ‘probable cause’ means putting countless people at risk of deportation for crimes they didn’t commit,” state Sen. Andrew Gounardes and Assembly Member Karines Reyes said in a joint statement.
Make the Road New York, an immigrant advocacy group, echoed that objection, saying Hochul’s “probable cause” proposal marked “a major step backwards in our effort to protect all New Yorkers from federal immigration attacks,” and could allow “discriminatory bias” to guide cooperation with ICE.
USA TODAY Network-New York Albany statehouse 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 would ban masks and limit police help for ICE in new Hochul plan
Reporting by Chris McKenna, New York State Team / Rockland/Westchester Journal News
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