Nassau County sat silent Tuesday as New York's Local Cops, Local Crimes Act took effect, becoming one of two counties that had not confirmed it would end formal cooperation agreements with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Rensselaer County was the other holdout. The standoff pit Governor Kathy Hochul directly against her Republican challenger for governor—Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman—on the first day the law carried legal force.
Hochul drew a firm line at a news conference. "Let me be clear: any police department or sheriff's office that disobeys this law, that maintains any agreement with ICE, will face legal action," she said. "We will not allow local cops to be converted as ICE agents to conduct civil immigration enforcement."
The state Attorney General's Office of Immigrant Trust issued subpoenas to the Nassau County sheriff and police departments. Rensselaer County's sheriff department received a subpoena for outright refusal to comply. Broome and Steuben counties' sheriff departments also received subpoenas after submitting what the attorney general described as unsatisfactory responses—bringing the total number of counties under formal legal pressure to four.
Blakeman has been among the loudest voices in New York defending the ICE agreements, arguing they help law enforcement solve crimes. But when the Tuesday deadline arrived, his spokesman Christopher Boyle issued a two-word response—"no comment"—when asked about Hochul's news conference and what the county planned to do. Blakeman had previously said he was reviewing the law with attorneys but had not announced any legal action as of Tuesday.
Rensselaer County Sheriff Kyle Bourgault was more direct. "We have yet to hear the governor or attorney general tell us how their action makes our state or Rensselaer County any safer," Bourgault said in a statement. "We are still waiting for an answer to that important question."
A group of 15 county sheriffs filed a lawsuit Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Albany challenging the statute. The Federation for American Immigration Reform, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit, is representing the sheriffs in that case. Nassau County was not among the plaintiffs as of the filing.
The Local Cops, Local Crimes Act bars state and local employees from questioning individuals solely on the basis of immigration status, unless a separate legal requirement compels them to do so. The law effectively ends the formal 287(g) agreements—the federal program under which local law enforcement agencies deputize officers to carry out immigration enforcement duties alongside ICE.
Blakeman's own running mate drew a clear line on the other side. Madison County Sheriff Todd Hood, who is on Blakeman's ticket as the Republican nominee for lieutenant governor, ended his department's agreement with ICE. Hood said he disagreed with the law but would follow it. He was also among the sheriffs who signed onto the federal lawsuit seeking to overturn the statute—opposing the law legally while complying with it administratively.
The fracture inside the Republican ticket highlights the difficulty of the position. Blakeman has built his gubernatorial campaign partly on opposition to Hochul's immigration posture, and backing down from the ICE agreement before any court orders him to would undercut that message. But defying the law while the attorney general's subpoenas are already in motion carries real legal exposure.
Hochul, for her part, faces her own political calculation. The governor tentatively agreed to debate Blakeman on Spectrum News NY1, according to her campaign—a signal she is not running from the confrontation. Immigration enforcement and the ICE agreement fight have become central to the race, and a public legal clash with Nassau County gives Hochul a stage to draw the contrast she wants with Blakeman heading into the fall.
The federal lawsuit filed by the 15 sheriffs argues the state law conflicts with federal immigration authority, a claim that mirrors challenges to sanctuary-city policies in other states. Courts have issued mixed rulings on those cases over the past decade, and the U.S. District Court in Albany has not yet scheduled a hearing. Until a court issues an injunction, Hochul and Attorney General Letitia James retain full authority to pursue enforcement through the subpoena process and any follow-on legal action.
