NEW YORK — New York's Local Cops, Local Crimes Act took effect this week, barring local law enforcement from assisting Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Governor Kathy Hochul is defending the measure, which prohibits agreements between local governments and ICE and has sparked immediate backlash from several counties and law enforcement officials across the state.
The law specifically prevents local officers from participating in immigration enforcement. Local agencies can still aid federal authorities in non-immigration matters. At a Tuesday press conference, Hochul directly challenged opponents: "And to those suing us, those trying to block the implementation of this law who've tried before and failed, our law has already been upheld by the courts, but if you try me again, I say, 'Bring it on.'"
Hochul and Attorney General Letitia James issued a joint statement saying the law "keeps New Yorkers safe by ensuring public safety resources go toward combating crime in our communities, not carrying out the work of ICE." They accused ICE of conducting "indiscriminate raids" and argued that local law enforcement should focus resources on fighting street crime.
Rensselaer County Executive Steve McLaughlin criticized the law Tuesday, saying Hochul "escalated her administration's war on the police" and "expanded policies to put criminals before the citizens of New York." Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, a Republican nominee for governor, told the New York Post he would "probably" join the sheriffs' lawsuit against the state. His county maintains ICE cooperation agreements.
Hochul has threatened legal action against localities that refuse to end their cooperation agreements with ICE. At the press conference, she said: "No county executive should think that they are above the law in the state of New York."
The state officials noted that 12 entities currently hold ICE agreements and that "the vast majority of New York's law enforcement agencies were already successfully protecting their communities without any collaboration with ICE." Hochul and James dismissed the sheriffs' lawsuit as a "frivolous waste of taxpayer dollars" and expressed confidence that the law would survive the challenge, citing previous court decisions declining to block the measure.
