ALBANY — Lawmakers voted to enshrine New York’s sanctuary state status into law Thursday, imposing a sweeping ban on cooperation between local law enforcement and US Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The sprawling legislative package, pushed by Gov. Kathy Hochul, not only handcuffs cops from partnering with federal immigration authorities, but also bars ICE agents from most public places like hospitals and parks, and prevents them from wearing masks.
The measure, which was significantly ratcheted up from Hochul’s original proposal that largely only went after specific localities, like Nassau County, that have cooperation deals dubbed “287-g agreements” with the feds.
The bill passed Thursday bans those agreements and goes a step further — prohibiting all “informal cooperation,” such as a local cop calling ICE if they believe they have an undocumented migrant in custody.
“If it looks and it smells like the 287-g agreement, then it’s part of what this law would say is not permissible,” Assembly member Catalina Cruz (D-Queens) said during debate in the chamber.
While the package was the culmination of a number incremental measures, Cruz admitted that the overarching goal was to prevent the enforcement of federal immigration law.
“What the state is doing is ensuring that we are not using taxpayer dollars to enforce federal law,” Cruz said.
The package includes:
- The so-called “Bivens Act”, allowing people to sue ICE agents should they violate their constitutional rights like by entering their home without a warrant.
- Barring most public employees, like civilians at a law enforcement agency, hospital workers and DMV staff from any interaction with federal immigration authorities without presentation of a judicial warrant.
- Creating an “Office of Immigrant Trust” within Attorney General Letitia James’ office, with the ability to enforce provisions of the bill, including going after local governments that don’t comply.
- Banning all federal law enforcement officers from wearing masks to conceal their identity.
- Preventing local governments from granting zoning variances for immigration detention centers without a six-month public comment period.
Republicans vehemently opposed the measure, which passed both chambers Thursday and was expected to be signed into law by Hochul.
The Democratic governor first unveiled her anti-ICE pitch earlier this year, in the wake of President Trump’s ICE surge in Minnesota.
Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, has threatened to surge ICE agents to New York if Hochul signs the measures into law.
“We’re moving backwards in terms of public safety,” Assemblyman Garret Gandolfo (R-Nassau) said.
“By handcuffing law enforcement and not giving them the tools they need to get violent individuals off the street, we are setting ourselves up for some real problems in the future.”
One of Assemblyman Matt Slater’s constituents, Sheridan Gorman, was viciously murdered by a 25-year-old Venezuelan national who’d entered the country illegally and was released in 2023.
“I have to go home to my district and talk to the Gorman family, who recently lost their daughter to a tragic situation,” Slater (R-Dutchess) explained on the Assembly floor.
“When you hear what they have to say, they talk about a system that had failed their family. And I am not convinced that the changes here rectify or correct the systems that they have identified in that tragic case,” he said.
Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, the GOP candidate for governor, who has one of the state’s most comprehensive 287-g agreements, has said he’ll sue over the legislation.
“Kathy Hochul just sent a message to killers, rapists, and gang members around the world: come to New York!” Blakeman wrote in a statement to The Post.
“Her latest pro-criminal policy shields thugs from arrest while forcing more ICE agents onto our streets,” he said.
“Every dangerous criminal protected by Kathy Hochul’s policies is another threat to innocent New Yorkers. As Governor, I’ll end this insanity and put the rights of law-abiding citizens ahead of criminals once and for all.”