New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said Friday that she will propose a state law designed to prohibit local law enforcement officers from acting as immigration agents under agreements with the federal government.
The Democratic governor said at a news conference that she will seek to end participation in the federal program commonly referred to as 287(g). The program, which is covered in a subsection of a federal 1996 immigration law, allows local police to carry out some immigration enforcement duties, according to the nonprofit New York Civil Liberties Union.
Hochul’s move comes amid rising anger against aggressive immigration enforcement after two people, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, were fatally shot by federal agents in Minneapolis this month. The governor has called for the resignation of Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who oversees U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
“We are called to act in this moment of tyranny," Hochul said Friday, flanked by police chiefs and prosecutors from around the state. “Don’t buy the argument we have to be there because ICE needs the help. … Don’t expect our local law enforcement to team up with them because we have other priorities.”
Hochul said her proposal would ban 287(g) agreements but still allow local police agencies to assist federal authorities in apprehending criminals and providing crowd control.
The governor has walked a fine line on immigration. She stressed to a congressional committee last year that New York cooperates with ICE in deporting criminals in certain circumstances, but after taking office in 2021 she reissued an executive order generally barring most state employees, including the State Police, from asking about a person’s immigration status.
Hochul’s Friday announcement also sets up a clash with Republican county executives who currently have 287(g) agreements — most notably, Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, the GOP’s gubernatorial candidate.
“Governor Hochul is the most pro-criminal governor in the United States States who has a callous disregard for the safety of our communities and victims of crime,” Blakeman said. “When I am governor, I will veto that legislation.”
The governor’s proposal is similar to the New York for All Act, an existing bill supported by the nonprofit New York Immigration Coalition and other advocacy groups that would also prohibit officers from using public resources for immigration enforcement except when required by law.
Dozens of lawmakers rallied at the State Capitol on Wednesday calling for that bill’s passage.
State Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins said she was committed to action “sooner rather than later.”
“We will review these most recent proposals but these sound like meaningful steps forward,” Stewart-Cousins said in a statement on Friday. “I have made it clear that we must enact policies and legislation that will protect our brothers and sisters of the immigrant community including the goals and principles of New York for All.”
Local immigration advocates applauded Hochul's announcement as an important step in countering Trump's immigration crackdown but said further protections were needed. Hochul's proposal would end formal agreements between ICE and local law enforcement agencies, but advocates warned that informal cooperation could still take place without further guardrails.
Several groups urged Hochul to support the more sweeping New York for All Act.
"The Governor’s proposal recognizes that there are significant gaps in our state laws that enable New York localities to be complicit with Trump’s mass deportation agenda, but we must go further to eliminate the full spectrum of how collusion functions in our state," Murad Awawdeh, the president and CEO of the New York Immigration Coalition, said in a statement.
Rensselaer County in 2018 became the first New York locality to broker a 287(g) agreement. After President Donald Trump’s 2024 re-election, the number of law enforcement agencies that entered into these agreements grew to seven, including the Nassau County Sheriff's Office and Nassau County Police Department, according to the NYCLU.
Rensselaer County officials said Friday they planned to continue participating in the program.
“We have no plans to end what has been an effective partnership over nearly a decade between our county and the federal government,” County Executive Steve McLaughlin, a Republican, said in a statement. “Knowing who is being brought into our jail and what other charges they may face is common sense.”
