Bruce Blakeman and Gov. Kathy Hochul are going head-to-head over ICE. Here's why.

Local, state and federal law enforcement are now banned from covering their faces in New York State while interacting with the public in most encounters under a new law taking effect Friday.

The Making Enforcement Law Transparent Act is part of a push from state Democrats to regulate U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and promote transparency. But Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman — who is running against Gov. Kathy Hochul for governor and last year signed an executive order last year allowing law enforcement to wear masks in Nassau — says the move puts officers at risk.

"Kathy Hochul is putting our cops in danger just to prove a dumb political point," Blakeman wrote in a statement to Newsday, later adding that masks help protect against people exposing law enforcement officers’ identities online.

The mask ban is part of bill package signed by Hochul last month. Among the many changes is a new law prohibiting local law enforcement from partnering with ICE through a federal program known as 287(g). ICE has two such agreements with Nassau, one with its police department and another with its sheriff’s department.

Hochul introduced the proposal in January, declaring that "New Yorkers are feeling traumatized and stunned as they watch federal agents carry out unspeakable acts of violence in a country they no longer recognized." Her comments came after ICE agents killed two Americans in separate incidents in Minnesota.

Blakeman has until Aug. 27 to terminate Nassau's contracts with ICE, or New York Attorney General Letitia James says she will pursue legal action.

"We will seek compliance through the courts," James said in a news conference Wednesday. "I doubt that any municipality would be in contempt of the law at this point and I’m confident that they will comply."

Is Hochul banning ICE from working in New York?

No. The new law bans the use of local law enforcement officials or facilities for immigration enforcement, but allows ICE to continue working with local law enforcement on criminal matters. Unlike the mask restrictions, this measure hasn't taken effect yet.

That leaves Blakeman with about nine weeks to void Nassau’s partnership with ICE. Nassau County rents 50 East Meadow jail cells to the federal agency to detain immigrants, and deputized 10 Nassau detectives to help transfer defendants into ICE custody.

"Local cops should be focused on solving local crimes," Hochul said Wednesday. "ICE doesn’t even need [local police]. They’re a bloated agency with $85 billion, one of the largest agencies in federal government. ... Local taxpayers should not be paying local officers to do the federal job. That’s just common sense."

The law does not apply to local law enforcement working with ICE to detain someone accused of a serious crime, Hochul said. "Law enforcement agencies at every level should continue coordinating on legitimate, serious criminal matters," she said.

Blakeman has said he is considering filing a lawsuit over the matter with a handful of sheriffs across New York. He did not answer questions from Newsday this week about whether that was still the case, or whether he would enforce local compliance with the new state law. In the past, he has said the partnership has helped deport people with criminal records ranging from attempted murder to rape.

Less than 5% of the thousands of people detained in Nassau through Blakeman's partnership were convicted of violent crimes, Newsday reported.

A handful of counties in New York partner with ICE, including Madison County, where Blakeman’s running mate for governor, Sheriff Todd Hood, hails from. The agreement in Madison deputizes local corrections officers to serve and execute immigration warrants in the county jail.

The new state laws also prohibits state and local employees from questioning people solely for immigration purposes unless they are required to by a federal judicial warrant, and prohibits government employees from letting ICE agents into schools, parks, hospitals and other sensitive locations without a judicial warrant.

What does the mask ban entail?

According to the new law taking effect Friday, local, state and federal law enforcement officers in New York cannot "wear any face coverings that conceals, disguises, or obscures their facial identity while interacting with the public in the performance of their duties."

The ban lists exceptions for when law enforcement officers are wearing tactical gear or working undercover, among other instances.

The question of face coverings came to a head after ICE agent Jonathan Ross shot and killed Renee Good, a Minneapolis mother of three, in January. Ross was wearing a neck gaiter at the time, covering most of his face beneath his eyes.

Weeks later, the Customs and Border Protection agents who shot and killed Alex Pretti, a Minneapolis intensive care nurse for veterans, were also wearing neck gaiters and beanies, leaving just their eyes visible.

"Hiding your face is nothing more than a fear tactic, an intimidation tactic, and that’s not how we keep people safe," Hochul told reporters on Wednesday. "New Yorkers have a right to know who is conducting government activity in their communities. ... It’s a fundamental principle of a Democratic government."

The new mandate conflicts with a 2025 executive order signed by Blakeman allowing federal, state and local law enforcement to wear masks during investigations in Nassau County. The order carved out an exemption in a 2024 county law making it a misdemeanor crime to wear masks or facial coverings in public places.

Blakeman's executive order said officers "shall be permitted to wear masks and/or other facial coverings when deemed necessary to protect their personal safety, the personal safety of their families or the integrity of the operation." Asked about the matter this week, Blakeman told Newsday he is not encouraging Nassau patrol officers to wear masks.

It’s an argument that President Donald Trump's administration also made in a lawsuit against New York on Monday. "Protecting the personal identities of federal officers, and by extension their families, is necessary in part due to the increasing threats of targeted harassment and retaliation against federal officers and agents for simply doing their jobs," the suit read.

Blakeman told Newsday on Wednesday that undercover officers "need the ability to operate anonymously." The Department of Justice went on to say in its lawsuit that people are increasingly photographing, filming and publishing ICE activity online as a form of "intimidation and harassment."

Hochul and James countersued, claiming that New York has the right to protect public safety and promote transparency under the 10th Amendment. 

David Bier, director of immigration studies at the libertarian Cato Institute, called the Trump administration's reasoning "completely bogus."

"It might keep their face off the internet, but that’s not a legitimate basis for wearing a mask. That’s just, ‘I just want to be able to do these things in secret’ and that’s not a valid basis in a democratic country," Bier said. "It’s not like members of Congress don’t receive threats, judges and anyone else."

Recent polling shows that 56% of suburban New York voters and 58% of New York City voters think keeping law enforcement from wearing masks while interacting with the public was good for the state. Upstate voters were more split, with 44% in favor of the ban and 32% opposing it.

Meanwhile, the majority of Republicans nationally say it’s acceptable for federal agents to cover their faces while working.

Has Blakeman waged legal battles with New York before?

If Blakeman follows through on his word to sue New York later this summer, it wouldn’t be the first time. In March 2024, Blakeman sued James over a cease-and-desist order she issued against his executive order banning transgender athletes from playing in girls’ sports on county property.

Several months later, James sued Blakeman and Nassau over the county's law banning transgender athletes playing on county property. The New York Civil Liberties Union also filed an independent lawsuit. A state supreme court judge has upheld the law in both suits.