NEW YORK — Governor Kathy Hochul has signed a broad package of immigration measures limiting cooperation between New York law enforcement agencies and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, setting up a fresh clash with federal authorities and Republican-led counties.
The measures, included in New York’s fiscal year 2027 budget, bar state and local police from enforcing civil immigration law and prohibit local governments from entering formal cooperation agreements with ICE, including 287(g) partnerships. Those agreements allow local officers to perform certain immigration-enforcement functions under federal supervision.
Hochul said the laws are designed to keep police focused on local crime rather than federal immigration enforcement. “Police officers are taken off their jobs to do civil ICE enforcement,” she said, arguing that local officers should be fighting crime and responding to emergencies instead of “doing ICE’s job.”
The package also restricts immigration enforcement in sensitive locations such as schools, hospitals, childcare centres, polling places and houses of worship unless agents have a judicial warrant. It further bans law enforcement officers from wearing masks while carrying out duties and creates legal remedies for people whose constitutional rights are violated by federal officers.
The governor framed the move as a response to what she called aggressive federal immigration enforcement under President Donald Trump. “Flagrant abuses of power by ICE will not stand in New York,” Hochul said, adding that the state would act as a guardrail against federal overreach while maintaining “no sanctuary for criminals.”
The laws have drawn immediate opposition from Republican officials, particularly in Nassau County, where County Executive Bruce Blakeman has vowed to keep a local ICE agreement in place and challenge the state in court. Blakeman said the county’s partnership with ICE improves public safety, while Hochul and Attorney General Letitia James have warned that local governments must comply with state law.
Critics, including former Democratic Governor David Paterson, have warned that the measures could trigger more federal raids, costly litigation and confusion over the balance between state and federal authority. Supporters say the laws will make immigrant communities more willing to report crimes, attend school and seek medical care without fear of immigration arrest.
The dispute is likely to become both a legal and political fight. For Hochul, the legislation strengthens New York’s role as a state resisting Trump’s immigration crackdown. For opponents, it represents an unlawful restriction on cooperation with federal immigration authorities.
