New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said Thursday that her administration will move forward with proposals to restrict how state and local authorities work with federal immigration enforcement, even after Trump’s border czar warned New York could face a larger federal immigration presence. Hochul said she “don’t take well to threats,” and she predicted the state would pass measures she described as aimed at protecting New Yorkers.
The comments come as tensions rise over immigration enforcement after what the Associated Press described as often chaotic and violent deportation efforts by the Trump administration. Hochul, a Democrat, said she would press ahead with bills that lawmakers are still refining, signaling that Democratic efforts to place “guardrails” on the administration’s immigration agenda are now colliding with threats from Trump-aligned officials.
Homan told Fox News earlier this week that federal authorities would “increase manpower, a lot” if New York advanced the proposals, adding that “They can put up all the roadblocks they want, but we’re going to do this job,” according to the AP account of his remarks. Homan’s threat centered on the possibility of flooding areas with immigration agents if New York reduced local coordination with ICE.
Hochul said she had reached a deal with legislative leaders to include the immigration proposals in the state budget. She framed the approach as a way to focus on criminal enforcement while drawing boundaries around what she said had “gone too far,” telling reporters, “This does not restrict our ability to help in criminal situations and I want people to understand that, but my God, it has gone too far,” according to the AP report.
The measures described by Hochul and the AP would include multiple restrictions on state and local involvement in federal immigration enforcement. The proposals would bar state and local law enforcement from entering into agreements with ICE or from acting as civil immigration agents. They also would deny ICE entry into sensitive locations—such as schools or hospitals—without a judicial warrant, the AP said.
Hochul also proposed limits on masking by law enforcement while on duty, along with a measure that would create a path for people to sue ICE officers. The AP report said the governor set out the broader package during the same day she discussed the budget deal and her push for the legislation to move forward.
The AP report also said Hochul and Homan met at the New York state Capitol earlier this year. It described the sit-down as private, and said Hochul told reporters Thursday that Homan had told her “the era of the surges is over.”
A Republican candidate for governor, Bruce Blakeman, criticized the proposals in response. The AP report said Blakeman pointed to his Long Island county’s ICE agreement as successful in getting “bad people out of our community” and producing what he called orderly immigration enforcement efforts.