CHAPPAQUA, N.Y. — Gov. Kathy Hochul is trying to brush off criticism that Democrats’ sanctuary and bail laws continue to allow migrants to victimize New Yorkers without recourse – including two repeat offenders arrested within the last week.
Hochul had little to say in the face of attacks from her Republican gubernatorial opponent Bruce Blakeman and battleground Hudson Valley Rep. Mike Lawler, who called on her to reverse the anti-ICE sanctuary state law she signed earlier this year.
“Nothing in New York state law prevents cooperation with ICE,” Hochul insisted as she campaigned with Democratic Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Pat Ryan in Dutchess County Tuesday.
“Our laws do not allow for criminals to have sanctuary and anything to the contrary is a mischaracterization of New York State law,” she told reporters after galivanting in an apple orchard with AOC.
But Blakeman and Lawler held their own campaign event to respond to two recent cases in which convicted criminals in the US illegally were allowed back out on the streets — only to re-offend.
New York’s lax bail laws, paired with state and local sanctuary policies, also allow judges to repeatedly let migrant suspects walk free, the GOP pols noted.
Juan Guillermo Guambana Ayora, for instance, was arrested on October 1 in Ossining for allegedly filming women undressing in a bathroom on at least three separate occasions over the last year.
Local sources and a spokesperson for the US Department of Homeland Security said Guambana, 50, had previously been convicted of assault in Ossining in 2003.
Guambana made headlines years later, when he took refuge with his wife and daughter in the South Presbyterian Church in Dobbs Ferry in 2018, in an attempt to avoid being deported.
He was eventually nabbed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in December 2020, and was caught trying to re-enter the US in May 2021, only to then get released, the DHS spokesperson said.
Guambana now faces six felony counts of unlawful surveillance in the second degree, yet was still released without bail, with his next court date set for November 5.
In the second case, Diego Rodriguez-Ordonez, 24, was arrested twice in 18 hours in Putnam County, the second time for allegedly groping a woman on a Metro North train in Southeast on September 29, authorities said.
Only the day prior, he was busted for allegedly trying to rob a gas station in the Town of Kent, but was released with an ankle monitor on charges of robbery, assault and criminal mischief — despite having eight previous convictions over 17 arrests.
He was being held in Putnam County Jail pending his next court date.
Lawler, who will face Democrat challenger Cait Conley in the midterms, blasted the party for believing some crimes are too “inconsequential” to elicit swift immigration action and avoid consequences altogether.
“Nobody in their right mind could stand here and look these families in the face. and say that refusing to turn over murderers and rapists is good public policy,” Lawler said, flanked by Jessica and Tom Gorman — whose daughter Sheridan was allegedly killed by a migrant in Chicago earlier this year.
Blakeman called Hochul — the Democratic incumbent seeking a second, full term on November 3 — a “liar” for suggesting the agreements between municipalities and ICE that the governor banned allowed the feds to control local cops and run roughshod over Nassau County.
“Because we cooperated with ICE, we removed 2,000 illegal migrants with criminal records, ranging from murder, attempted murder, rape, burglary, robbery, drug dealing, gang activity,” said Blakeman, the Nassau County executive.
“We didn’t raid one church. We didn’t raid one school. We didn’t raid one daycare center. Kathy Hochul is lying to the people of New York state,” he said.
Both candidates were joined at the Tuesday press conference with the entire statewide GOP slate up for election next month, as well as other local officials and the Gormans, who are from Yorktown Heights.
Jessica Gorman, speaking with reporters, demanded Hochul put herself in the shoes of the mother of the woman allegedly groped by the Rodriguez-Ordonez on the Metro North train.
“What if that woman was your child? Would 17 arrests by a man who hurt her or sexually assaulted her, would 17 arrests have been enough for you?,” She demanded.
“We’re heartbroken, we’re disappointed. And yes, we are scared.”
Hochul said “no parent should ever be exposed to the kind of pain” as the Gormans, when she was asked about the GOP event later Tuesday.
Saritha Komatireddy, the daughter of immigrants from India and Republicans’ candidate taking on Democratic Attorney General Letitia James, said the law should empower authorities to hand over undocumented migrants to ICE “at the jailhouse door.”
“The safest way to protect all Americans, those of us who are immigrants, those of us who are not,” Komatireddy said, demanding Democrats “pay attention to the victims.”
Hochul’s sanctuary and bail policies are an “insult to every New Yorker who expects government to put their safety first,” Cattaraugus County Sheriff Eric Butler told The Post Thursday.
“She needs to explain why repeat offenders keep getting another chance to create another victim. How many more people have to get hurt before she admits these policies need to change?” the upstate sheriff said.
“Stop lecturing sheriffs, stop making excuses, and start fixing the laws. New Yorkers deserve protection, not political spin.”
Both Butler and Broome County Sheriff Fred Akshar are suing Hochul over her “Local Cops, Local Crimes Act” that went into effect in August, banning cooperative arrangements between municipalities and ICE. Both of the counties ran suspects through an ICE database when they were brought to their jails.
“Rhetoric may appease activists, but the proof is in the reality New Yorkers face every day from failed policies that put criminals before law abiding citizens,” Akshar told The Post.
“Whether it’s Bail Reform, Discovery Reform, HALT or Local Cops Local Crimes: Out-of-touch politicians in Albany turned the justice system into a revolving door for violent criminals and new victims are created every day.”
Asked about the two recent cases Thursday, Hochul’s office said both the New Castle Police Department and Kent Police Departments were allowed to and should’ve called the feds in Guambana and Rodriguez-Ordonez’s cases, respectively.
“Governor Hochul’s top priority is public safety, which is why she held up two state budgets to strengthen our bail laws and give judges more discretion to keep repeat and dangerous offenders behind bars,” Hochul Spokesperson Alexia Nizhny said in a statement to The Post.
“The Governor has been clear: New York is not and never will be a sanctuary for violent criminals, and anyone who breaks the law must be prosecuted and held accountable to the fullest extent of the law,” she said.
– Additional reporting by Reuven Fenton
