A committee of Oswego County legislators this week defeated a measure that would have banned the county sheriff’s department from assisting federal immigration authorities in detaining migrants suspected of being in the country illegally.
The 4-3 vote was split along party lines, with majority Republicans voting no.
Democrats, bolstered by surprising wins last November that more than tripled their tiny ranks but left them far short of a majority, argued that immigration is not the sheriff’s department’s job.
“I don’t feel ICE is trained to the high level these departments have been trained to. It has been demonstrated against the country,” said Minority Leader Marie Schadt. Fellow Democrat Lee Walker said he received about 50 emails about the proposal and only one was opposed.
But Republican Herb Yerdon, who spent his career with the sheriff’s department, said he could never be convinced to vote for the measure because police have to be able to come when called, regardless of who is calling.
“Someone needs help? We gotta help them,” Yerdon said.
Another Republican, Legislature Vice Chair Mary Ellen Chesbro, put it plainly.
“If we have an illegal alien in jail, I want the Sheriff to be able to simply call ICE, have them handed over and they’re out of my community," she said.
Any assistance the Oswego County Sheriff’s Department is giving to federal authorities is not due to an official agreement between the county and Washington. Across New York, eight sheriff’s departments and four municipal police departments have formal agreements to help federal immigration enforcement in one of several ways. In Central New York, only the Madison County Sheriff’s Department and the village of Camden Police Departments have 287(g) agreements.
Democratic state lawmakers and Gov. Kathy Hochul may make moot the issue of local assistance to federal immigration authorities. Legislators and the Governor are pushing competing proposals, each of which would ban local police from enforcing immigration law while adding other protections for migrants or, in the case of Hochul’s plan, allow those arrested wrongly to sue in state court.
Hochul has said she doesn’t support the legislative plan, called “New York For All,” while legislators say Hochul’s “Local Cops, Local Crimes” plan doesn’t do enough.
