Upstate Republican pitches bill to curtail cooperation between ICE, law enforcement in NYS

ALBANY — An upstate Republican state senator is introducing a bill that would limit coordination between local law enforcement and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the state.

The bill is a sign of growing unease among Republicans about the federal crackdown on immigration enforcement efforts after recent fatal shootings by immigration officers in Minnesota.

It comes after Gov. Kathy Hochul on Friday proposed to ban local police departments from signing cooperation agreements to assist ICE with immigration enforcement efforts.

Sen. Jake Ashby, who represents all of Rensselaer County and parts of Washington and Albany counties, introduced legislation that would ban coordination between local law enforcement and ICE agents on warrantless immigration enforcement raids.

"I think everybody can agree that what we're witnessing throughout the country, especially Minneapolis, is horrible, and it indicates a need for leadership, and we wanted to take that opportunity," he said.

Ashby’s bill would also ban county jails from being used as mass housing for people waiting to be deported and it would empower district attorneys to pursue criminal cases against undocumented defendants instead of coordinating with ICE on deportation proceedings.

Ashby said his office was already drafting the legislation when Hochul made her announcement Friday that she would seek to prevent local law enforcement agencies from signing 287-g agreements, in which local departments partner with ICE to use local officers, jails and other resources as part of federal enforcement efforts.

Like Hochul’s proposal, Ashby’s bill would bar ICE agents from accessing "sensitive locations," such as schools, child care facilities, hospitals and places of worship for the purpose of civil immigration enforcement.

Ashby said he agrees with parts of Hochul’s proposal but said he believes local correctional facilities holding undocumented immigrants still need to be able to coordinate with federal immigration officers.

Ashby is not the only upstate Republican expressing unease over the Trump administration’s tactics.

Onondaga County District Attorney William Fitzpatrick joined Hochul last week to support her bill. Fitzpatrick, a well-known Republican who has served as district attorney since 1992, told the Post-Standard of Syracuse that ICE’s current approach defies "rationality and common sense."

A poll this week from the Siena Research Institute found that large swaths of New Yorkers oppose how President Donald Trump's administration is deploying ICE agents. Two-thirds of those polled view ICE unfavorably and 61% oppose the way ICE is working to arrest people.

Notably, 58% of Republican voters polled agreed with the idea that ICE agents should not be allowed to enter sensitive locations, such as schools, day cares and houses of worship on civil immigration matters.

Ashby stressed that his bill would still allow cooperation between local, state and federal law enforcement agencies when a crime was committed or there was a judicial warrant.

Ashby said he was not aware that his bill would conflict with the approach Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, the presumptive Republican nominee for governor, has taken to cooperating with ICE.

The county signed an agreement called a task force model, which allows for local law enforcement to question people about their immigration status during traffic stops or patrols and initiate removal proceedings. Blakeman has touted the county’s partnership with ICE, calling it the most comprehensive agreement of any county in the country.